Saga of Hearts
by Daemen Reisho
Summary: KingdomHeartsXenosagaXover]Sora,Donald,andGoofy from KingdomHearts wind up in a world whereReligion has been transended and factions struggle for dominance.They will have to discover what is right and wrong for themselves if they ever want to go home.
1. Chapter 1

**Kingdom Saga: Jeneseits Von Gut Und Bose**

Introduction: First of all, I would like to say that this is NOT a parody/humor fic like my others. This one is serious. I'm doing this partly because I wanted to show that I can do serious stuff, too; and also because I wanted to see if I could make a ridiculous idea work. So now I present to you a totally serious Xenosaga and Kingdom Hearts crossover fic spanning the events of Xenosaga Episode II: Jeneseits Von Gut Und Bose and the final few scenes of Kingdom Hearts stretched out to fit the Xenosaga: II storyline. See, I told you it was ridiculous.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Xenosaga or Kingdom Hearts. They belong to Namco and Disney respectively.

Warning: Spoilers for Kingdom Hearts and Xenosaga Episodes I+II

**Chapter 1: Puppet Master in the Shadows**

Within the dark abyss, there lies the door to the heart of darkness, Kingdom Hearts. Ansem, the seeker of darkness, has long wanted to return all life to its origins in darkness. His plan would have come to fruition, however, if not for three unlikely heroes.

But there exists within even the multiple dimensions, even more multiple universes where the endless possibilities produce endless variations of the same universe. And then there is also the possibility, within the various "alternate dimensions", that the multiple universes may cross. This is one such story. Here we begin just as the Door to Darkness is about to open, swallowing all existence, presumably within that universe.

The white haired, dark skinned Ansem reappeared in front of the Door to Darkness. Tired and battle scarred, he turned to the door, threw his arms up and proclaimed:

"It is useless…the keyblade alone…cannot seal the door to darkness…," said the Seeker of Darkness, his wide golden eyes like coins glowing with anticipation, "Kingdom Hearts, open your doors and bring all existence unto darkness!"

The doors began to open at his command. It seemed as though the opening doors would swallow the whole universe. Ansem's black jacket and long white hair swayed amidst the turbulent powers at work.

"No!" the brown haired boy in red and black and adorned in many chains wouldn't-no-_couldn't _allow Ansem's plans to come to fruition. Everything—his friends, his family, the one he most loved—all of it was ridding on this battle.

The boy, Sora, turned to his companions; a bipedal dog in traveler's clothing who wields a shield as a weapon, and a duck-like creature in blue mage robes with lot's of zippers on it who is proficient in the magic arts, and said:

"What are we gonna do?"

"It's hopeless!" the bipedal Dog-Night, whose name was Goofy (referencing his rather lax disposition), was uncharacteristically tense. It seemed he had lost all hope. But Sora didn't. Sora has never given up hope. And as of now, he still hopes for a miracle, and if one does not come through, then he will have to _make _one happen.

Suddenly, the doors stop opening. The turbulent abyss becomes quiet.

Sora, Goofy, and the Black Mage duck named Donald were dumbfounded, And Ansem as well, for that matter.

"What?" said Ansem in outrage, "what is this?"

**Meanwhile…**

**UMN Administration Bureau, Second Miltia, Miltian Star System, Xenosaga Universe**

Things were not going well at the UMN Administration Bureau on Second Miltia. Only yesterday, a couple of AMWSs (large mechanical weapons shaped like humanoids, in which a pilot must operate from the inside) caused a lot of havoc and destruction in the city. And if that wasn't bad enough, they were having problems analyzing the data hidden within MOMO (a realian—a sort of artificial human—who is modeled after a deceased young girl and who, within her subconscious, holds the Y data—the data that will supposedly save mankind) isn't going so well.

"Dr. Mizrahi!" called one of the men on the analytical team working on analyzing the Y data within MOMO, the pink-haired realian, "The holographic network has begun to disrupt! We're running the risk of complete data leakage!"

Correction, make that "going horribly wrong."

The middle-aged and infamous female scientist worked feverously at her control panel. She, Dr. Juli Mizrahi, was about to do something she didn't really want to do.

"Dr. Mizrahi, what are you doing?" asked the blond haired half-man, half machine behind Juli. He was some sort of Cyborg, brought back to life after he committed suicide so many years ago.

"I'm using the emergency control code and destroying the data," answered Juli.

"No," the Cyborg contested, "If you do that, MOMO will..."

"You have a better idea? I won't allow the Y Data to fall into the enemy's hands!"

She was going to do it; she was going to press the button that would destroy not only the data that was to be the hope of all mankind, but her daughter whom she was just beginning to accept as her real daughter and not just a copy of her deceased Sakura.

But she couldn't do it. For that very reason, she couldn't bring herself to destroy her daughter's mind—even for the sake of humanity.

"MOMO…"

"Dr. Mizrahi! The expanded data is disappearing!"

"But…I didn't…"

"Dr. Mizrahi," asked the Cyborg, "what's going on?"

"It's MOMO," explained Juli even as she expressed panic and fear for her only living child, "she's cutting her own neural pathways and dispersing her memory! All to protect the data Johachim entrusted to her!"

Inside the containment area, MOMO was showing outward signs of complete neural shutdown. Her entire body was going into spasms which had only subsided when she went into complete shutdown and collapsed on the floor.

"The 100 Series Prototype has shut down!"

Juli and the Cyborg rush into the containment area. Both of them care deeply for MOMO and would do anything they can for her.

Just then, a white haired man appeared on every monitor in the building. He had a look of utter insanity in his violet eyes, and indeed he was insane.

"So, I see you received my gift," said the insane white haired man. There was, along with his insanity, a hint of both great malice and great pleasure in his tone.

"Albedo…" said a black haired executive in an expensive suit quietly to himself.

"Quite a noble young girl she is," Albedo was taunting them, "but all in all she's merely a puppet; a puppet waiting for a miracle to make her human, believing in all of Mizrahi's rubbish!"

"What? A puppet?" the Cyborg was outraged.

Albedo broke into a long fit of laughter so maniacally insane that it sent cold chills down anyone who had heard it's spine just before all of the monitors blacked out.

And the whole time that was going on, Juli was desperately trying to resuscitate MOMO.

"I won't…let her die…" she said to herself while performing CPR on MOMO, "Injecting nano-resoration…ready 12 device activators!" she commanded of her assistant.

"This time…I will save her!" she was determined to save MOMO. MOMO, her only living daughter; created in the image of her deceased daughter. MOMO, the daughter she never gave birth to.

**Where we left Sora:**

**Kingdom Hearts, within the dark abyss**

"What happened?" asked Sora.

"Beats me," answered Donald.

"Why the hell did it stop?" Ansem called out in outrage.

Goofy gasped. "He said a bad wor-"

"Huh?"

"Wak?"

"Gawrsh!"

"What is this?"

Suddenly, Sora's Gummie ship—The Highwind—dashed in front of The Door to Darkness.

"What's the Highwind doing here?" Sora asked in bewilderment.

"Don't ask me," Donald said, "we left it outside of the abyss, remember?"

"But how did it get here-"

"Look!" Goofy pointed ahead of him, where it seemed as though hell was opening up before them, and they all looked to it as if it were. For, something definitely was opening up in the exact area where the door to darkness was and had begun sucking everything into it.

"Wha-AHHHHH!" Ansem screamed bloody murder as he was sucked into the hole which resembled a UMN Transfer Column.

"Hurry! Let's get to the ship!" Goofy yelled.

"I'll use my magic to transport us to the ship!" announced Donald.

"But it's about to be sucked up!" contested Sora.

"We'll so are we and I don't know about you but I'd rather be in the ship when we are!" said Donald. So, with that, they vanished into the ship as it was swallowed by the Transfer Column.

**CEO Willhelm's office, Dammerung**

Inside a small office room in a colossal spacecraft called the Dammerung, a man, dressed in an ornate scarlet cloak addresses another man. This man, Willhelm, CEO of Vector Industries, seems (at first glance) to be only a youth, but his eyes tell a different story. His strange red eyes, beautiful as they are, tell a tale of great length. He is much older than he looks.

Wilhelm sat in his office wearing his expensive suit and brushing his beautiful white hair when the man in the scarlet cloak addressed him:

"Master Willhelm, we have confirmation of minute data leakage out from the UMN Administration Bureau."

"That is good news," Willhelm replied, "And I can assume that the data has reached…our new friends?"

"Yes, Master Willhelm," said the Scarlet Cloaked Man, "as we speak they are being transported across to our world."

"Excellent…," said Willhelm, "These new factors should make the game quite interesting. But, even with these new players, the outcome will not change. Merely, they will change how the game is played; refine it, if you will."

The red cloaked man was silent.

"Good, Evil; Light and Darkness, just one of these cannot possibly exist without the other. But when these forces collide with their counterpart that is when humanity must evolve beyond their notions of Good and Evil. It is how we became dominant. It is how we have evolved beyond that of simple, mindless beasts. For, you see, good and evil are both necessary for the evolution of the mind of human beings.

"But even if we continued the evolution of our collective schema until the end of time, we would still be chained to our notions of good and evil; we will be forever bound to our morals. But there will one day be one who will rise above morals, above the notions of good and evil and become more than a man. To become the Overman, that is every person's right, there will be thousands to claim it, but there will be only one to reach it."

You do not yet know…what lies beyond the door.

**Author's Note: **Well that's chapter one. Future chapters may not be as long as this, but expect there to be plenty of chapters. Please tell me what you thought of it by reviewing this chapter and hopefully future chapters, too. See you soon.


	2. Chapter 2

**Kingdom Saga: Jenseits Von Gut Und Bose**

**Chapter Two: UMN Emergency**

**Introduction:** Welcome fellow writers/readers/random guy who found this while searching for Kingdom Hearts/Xenosga/Nietzsche information! If you're reading this you must have liked the first chapter/wanted to see if he could do better/are laughing at how horrible this fic is. Anyway, in this chapter, Sora, Donald, and Goofy find themselves in another universe entirely. What awaits them in this world? Will they join the fight for the Zohar? What happened to Ansem? Is chaos really gay? All of these questions (well some of them) will be answered…at some point. But more importantly, more questions will be raised (i.e.: WTF was he on when he came up with the idea for this fic?) The answer: Weed, it's a crazy drug.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Xenosga.

((ooOO00OOoo))

Shion gasped, "Oh my, poor MOMO…"

The brunette Chief scientist felt like killing herself for not being there when it happened. MOMO, her friend, was the Realian equivalent of brain-dead and she wasn't there. Perhaps if she had been there, she thought, she could have done something to help.

"Yes, it is sad," the image of Representative Helmer on the monitor agreed, "Though she has regained the basic functions required to keep alive, her neural network—the rough equivalent of her brain—is completely fragmented. I would like to request Vector's help with this matter."

"We would be honored to help," said Shion, "Besides; MOMO is a close friend of mine."

"That's good to hear. I feel somewhat relieved to hear that you personally will be assisting us in restoring her mind. We have the dive equipment ready, all we need is someone who is experience in this matter. Good luck."

Representative Helmer ended his transmission.

((ooOO00OOoo))

The modern Othello sighed. Indeed, he was like Othello, wasn't he? A man, a member of a minority, holding a high office of power… Sometimes Helmer didn't even know if he could handle the responsibilities that come with that power. And god knows how many wanted to take his office from him. It was a wonder he was even elected. Helmer still remembered vividly the prejudice of the "white power" activists preaching their Neo-Nazi views as a failed attempt at rallying the people to vote against the "lesser being".

Helmer's deep, pensive thought was broken by the ringing of the phone.

Helmer picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Representative Helmer, "it was Lapis Roman, his mole in the Federation Military.

"Yes, Agent Roman? …What?"

"It's like I said," she explained, "Someone made an illegal Gate Jump out of the Athena Column."

"But that's the closest column to Second Miltia!"

"I know. The Feds sent my unit to intercept the perpetrator. It's a small ship, that's all we know for sure. But that doesn't explain how it made into UMN space without alerting anyone, or how it managed to hack the UMN without setting off an alarm. We're not even sure where the ship entered hyperspace at."

"Mm-hmm…"

"Anyway, I thought you'd like to know."

"You thought right," Helmer assured, "Keep an eye on the Federation and especially on that small ship."

"Yes sir," said Lapis.

"And be careful, your life is more important to me than the identity of that ship."

"Y-yes sir…:" Lapis hung up.

Helmer sighed as he looked out of the window of his office, "What is the world coming to?"

((ooOO00OOoo))

"What? Why can't we dive?" asked the red-headed hot-head known to his friends as Jr.

"There appears to be some strange activity within the UMN," explained assistant chief Allen Ridgely, "The Feds aren't giving anyone any of the specifics, but because of that all UMN activity, including Encephalon dives, are being restricted."

"Damn it!" Jr. cursed, "They couldn't have picked a worse time! MOMO needs us to dive into her subconscious domain and fix her fragmented mind." Jr. looked over at MOMO, who was being suspended by a containment device. She was still alive, yes, but her mind was gone. "MOMO…"

((ooOO00OOoo))

"Lt. Roman," called an analyzer from his station.

"Yes," answered the double agent, "what is it?"

"We've got a lock on the small ship. And it's _really _small!"

"What?" Lapis looked at the radar and realized that the ship was, indeed, small. Too small, in fact, to house any weapons or even the equipment required for hyperspace travel. "What is this?"

"A new Vector model?" the analyzer suggested.

"Doubt it," Lapis told him.

They were all, of course, moles for the Second Miltian Government. But even so they had to still act as though they weren't. This is because of the black box the ship is equipped with. Their conversations will be heard by the Feds when they got back.

"Keep track of it and ready the cannons just in case."

"Yes ma'am."

((ooOO00OOoo))

Seven hours earlier…

A hole, seemingly in the very dark matter that comprises it, opens up in space. It moves slowly, but eventually a small, laughably designed ship flies out from the opening in space.

Sora sighed. "That was scary."

"What happened?" asked Goofy.

"Beats me," said Donald.

"Where are we?" asked Sora.

"Don't know…I'll ask Chip and Dale to give us coordinates," Donald said while activating the transmitter, "Hello! Donald Duck to support crew, requesting coordinates of out current location. Helloooo?"

Static.

"What the-"

"Gawrsh, what are we gonna do now?" asked Goofy.

"There's nothing we can do but drift," said Sora.

All three sigh.

End of chapter.

**Author's note: Well that's it. As the Highwind makes its intercept course with Lapis Roman's fleet, Jr. and the others are still worried about MOMO. Will they save her in time? How will Sora and the others play a role in this story? Are you getting annoyed be all of these questions? Please read and review. Please?**


	3. Chapter 3

**Kingdom Saga: Jenseits Von Gut Und Bose**

**Chapter 3: Captured **

**Introduction: **Thanks to all who have reviewed so far. I don't know how long this is going to be, but I will tell you that events that seemed to me to be not very well covered in _Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits Von Gut Und Bose _will be covered in greater detail in this fic (such as the events of the second disk that merely consisted of little clips with Shion's voiceover narration). So event wise, this fic will be bigger than the source material. And of course, Sora's involvement will bring about many changes in the story as well.

Note: I'm not sure if I want any Disney character cameos in this fic. I'm pretty sure I can do it without killing the serious tone of this story. If you have any comments or ideas for Disney cameos, please include them in your reviews. (P.S.: The cameos in this fic will not necessarily be from the original Kingdom Hearts)

(ooOO00OOoo)

Sora had fallen asleep. It had been over eight hours since they arrived in unknown space. With no worlds or landmarks around, there was nothing they could do to plan out a course. The radar wasn't picking anything up either.

Donald desperately searched the endless black space. Space is a big place, especially for a little duck. It wasn't until a half an hour later that the radar's blinking lights caught his attention. "Huh?"

Donald turned to the dozing Sora and the spaced out Goofy. "You two wake up and come and see this!"

Some snoring from Sora and an incoherent sound from Goofy was his only response.

"**WAAAAKE UUUUUUUUP!"**

Sora sprang up almost instantly, hitting his head on the ceiling of the ship.

"What the-Ow!" Sora said, holding his head, "What's going on?"

"G'mornin', Donald," Goofy greeted as he rubbed his eyes.

"Good morning yourself," said Donald in his usual irrespective and impolite tone, "We've got a problem."

"What's wrong?" Sora asked.

"A bunch of ships are stationed ahead of us. We're on a collision course!"

"Heartless ships?" asked Sora.

"Doubt it," Donald answered, "Never seen Heartless ships coordinate so well. They've set up a blockade!"

"Gee, it's almost as if they were wait'n for us, a-yuk," observed Goofy.

"No duh!" Donald scoffed.

There was nothing they could do to change their course now all there was left to do was try to contact the fleet.

(ooOO00OOoo)

Lapis addressed her subordinate, "Have the scouts gotten a visual on the unidentified ship?"

"No, not yet," said the man at the station, "But we are now close enough to send a message over a private line."

"Do it."

"I would but it looks like the unidentified ship is sending a message on an open channel."

"Accept it."

"Yes ma'am."

The voice of Donald duck came on the speaker.

_This is Donald Duck, captain and pilot of the Highwind, is anybody out there? _

_Donald Duck?_ Thought Lapis, _That name sounds so bogus. And does he have a cough or something? His voice seems hoarse._

"Yes, Captain…Duck…," The name was so laughable it was hard for Lapis to spit it out, "I am Lt. Lapis Roman of the 108th Federation Military Fleet Division. We noticed you're vessel exited the Athena Hyperspace Column eight hours ago and has since been on route to Second Miltia since. Our fleet has been standing by for five hours to intercept you. Do you know why?"

_How am I supposed to know? _Said the voice over the transmission, _and what are you talking about?_

"What do you mean what am I talking about? You entered a UMN hyperspace column illegally!"

_What? I still don't know what you're talking about!_

"Don't know what I'm…," Lapis was perplexed, _who is this guy?_

"Who are the other people in your vessel?"

_A fourteen year old named Sora and our pal, Goofy._

_Goofy? Is this guy yanking my chain?_ "This is a serious matter Captain Duck! Do not trifle with me."

_What are you talking about? _

"I'm talking about-"this was clearly getting on Lapis' nerves, "Never mind…Look, where are you and your crew members from?"

_Donald, we can't let anybody know where we're from! _Said the most ridiculous sounding voice that Lapis had ever heard, _that would be muddling._

_Meddling! _Donald corrected angrily,_ and those guys aren't going to let us go anywhere so we better cooperate!_

"Who…are these people?" asked a subordinate.

Lapis merely shrugged.

_Let me do the talking!_ Sounded another voice, this one of a young man.

_No! _Answered Donald, _I'm the captain, I'll do the talking!_

_Just shut up!_ Said the young man, _Listen, my name's Sora. I'm from the Destiny Islands and Donald and Goofy are from Disney castle and are looking for their king. We are on a quest to find my friends and we ran into a powerful man named Ansem who has great control over the Heartless. You guys better clear out of here before you're caught! I'm telling you, he's nearby!_

_These guys' story gets weirder and weirder by the second…thought Lapis._

"Listen you!" commanded Lapis, whose nerves have reached their end, "What kind of fool do you think I am? You hack a Transfer Gate, you get caught, and now you're making it worse by making up some BS story! Now I'm tired of hearing your fairy tales, dock with our ship and wait for us or we will board you by force if you will not comply!"

(ooOO00OOoo)

Sora looked out of the window. He could see the space fleet ahead of them now. He put his head down and sighed.

"Why won't she listen to us?"

"Gwarsh, what're we gonna' do? Look's ta me like she means it."

"We FIGHT!" Donald suggested enthusiastically.

"No Donald," said Sora, "Look at all those ships; they'd rip this little craft apart if we tried that!"

"You know uh… they don't look to me like gummie ships," said Goofy, "you know I bet you that uh those ships are some kind of advanced weapons or somthin'."

"Don't be stupid, Goofy," said Donald, "There's no transportation other than Gummie ships. But those things do look awful dangerous. Maybe we should comply."

"Yeah," Sora concurred, "It looks like they just want to talk. Maybe we can explain our story to her in person."

"Gee, ya think we're in trouble for somethin'?"

"No duh," said Donald.

(ooOO00OOoo)

"Lieutenant, we're receiving a new transmission from the unidentified ship."

"Patch them through," ordered Lapis.

_Captain Roman?_ Sora had taken over as speaker it seemed.

"Yes, Sora was it? I would like to speak with an adult. Sorry but this is grown up stuff," Lapis patronized Sora. He was a kid after all, "Could you tell Captain Duck to talk to me?" Lapis hated talking to children.

_You want to talk to Donald?_ Sora asked, _Why? I can tell you what you want to know just as good as he can. _

"Yes, I'm sure you can, but I'd just rather talk to an adult." Lapis said.

_You heard the woman. This isn't a matter for children, _Said Donald.

_WHAT? I'm not a kid!_

_This is getting old…, _Lapis thought.

"Look," she said, getting extremely impatient, "Just let me talk to someone, I don't care who!"

_Yeah, I'm listening, _said Sora.

"In two hours, your ship will be in range of our tractor beam. You need do nothing after that. Just wait for our soldiers to escort you inside our ship. That is all."

_Yes ma'am. _

With that, the transmission ended.

"Sigh..."

"Lt. Roman, ma'am?" asked Lapis' subordinate, addressing her formally as per usual.

"Yes, go on."

"How are we supposed to handle these guys? It appears as they're holding the fourteen year old hostage."

"It does seem that way," Lapis agreed, "But I'm more concerned about how they are operating a hyperspace-capable ship with only three crew members."

'Lt. Roman!"

"What is it?"

"We have visual confirmation of the small craft in question!"

"Bring up the visual feed!"

A holographic screed appeared in front of Lapis and her crew. And on it was the Highwind in all its ridiculously goofy-looking glory.

_What the hell…_Lapis thought. "What kind of ship is that?"

**End of Chapter**: Well that's it for chapter three. Next time, Sora will try to explain things to Lapis Roman in person. But is Lapis ready for the surprises that are waiting for her when she sees Donald and Goofy for the first time? And what of Ansem and Albedo? The two will become aware of another in the next installment of this saga of hearts. (I'm changing the title to Saga of Hearts because it sounds better so keep that in mind, okay. Please Read and Review.


	4. Chapter 4

**Saga of Hearts:**

Chapter 4:

The Advocators of Progression and Regression

Introduction: This chapter is mostly about Ansem and Albedo. Here they will meet in the middle of space. Ansem, who believes in the corruption of mankind, whishes to end all existence and shroud the world in the darkness it was born from. Albedo, on the other hand, (though also believing that man is corrupted) wants to bring forth a golden age through his ascension as a higher being. This is why he quests to link with U-DO once more.

These two will oppose each other throughout this crossover fan fiction.

I realize chapter 3 wasn't the most exciting chapter. Just know that this one will be action packed.

**Disclaimer: I own nothing in this fic.**

((ooOO00OOoo))

Albedo reclined in his seat. The cockpit of his mech, Simeon, was small but it at least offered enough space for one to relax.

"They should be trying to dive into Ma Belle Peche's subconscious in order to retrieve her mind any time now," Albedo said to himself, smiling maniacally and cackling loudly as if there was a soul there to listen, "Now I guess I'll just have to dive in myself and wait for my moment to strike. Rubedo…I look forward to seeing you, too, my other half…" Albedo's white gloved hand went to his forehead as he went into another maniacal laughing fit.

(ooOO00OOoo)

Meanwhile, another hyperspace column opens near Albedo's location.

A fleet of Federation ships are stationed before the opening gate, though none move to enter hyperspace. The fleet is waiting for something to come out.

"Commander, the gate has opened. No sign of any ship yet," informed a man at a console inside the Federation Flagship.

"What, that's impossible!" exclaimed the commander of the fleet, "We we're told that someone had hacked the UMN and opened a hyperspace column illegally. We were told that, based on the course of the column that linked the gates that a gate would open up at this location, at this exact time. Here we are, and there's the gate, so where in the hell is our hacker?"

"Maybe it was a wild goose chase, sir?"

"Hold on a minute," said the commander, "The gate is still open, something could come out at any moment…"

As the commander was speaking to his subordinate, the gate had begun to close.

"Sir, the gate is closing!"

"Damn it!"

The gate completely closed off in a flash of light. The gate which had once hung in space as if the many stars were merely a painted wall had now disappeared and the stars and the darkness, once again, became the endlessness of space.

"No visual confirmation of any ship. Nothing on the radar either…I bet it was just a false alarm, said a subordinate to his commander.

"But a gate _did_ open illegally," said the commander, "Someone or some_-thing _had hacked the UMN and opened a hyperspace column. There's something more to this than meets the eye…"

And something _did_ come through the gate. It was a white-haired man. (…No, the other one…not that one…the one from Kingdom Hearts) He appeared to be capable of surviving the vacuum of space, though at first glance he appeared to be no more than an effeminate mortal man.

Ansem opened his eyes. He beheld the sight before him. He was amidst a military fleet of the Federation, though they did not notice him.

"Wha-What…?"

((ooOO00OOoo))

"…the hell happened?" Albedo screamed, slamming his fist on the control panel, "Hmm, so it seems there's been some interference with the UMN lately, so they've restricted all UMN activity for the time being…Damn it! Rubedo…it looks as if we'll have to postpone our reunion until the Feds clean this little mess up…" Albedo cackled, "If I could find whoever's been keeping me from attaining what I've been searching for…I'd…well…" Albedo trailed off as he entered another laughing fit.

((ooOO00OOoo))

"We've received orders from headquarters," said the commander, "We are to return to headquarters immediately and report on the events we've witnessed. Set the course for Fifth Jerusalem."

After the fleet had set its course, the UMN gate opened up once more in a flash of light. It was like a hole in space. All the ships of the fleet moved through it. It then closed behind them.

Little did anyone on those ships know they had a stowaway…

In a corridor, on the Federation Flagship, The Ixion, two soldiers converse with one another:

"So what do you think was going on with that UMN gate?" asked a red haired soldier.

The brown haired soldier next to him answered, "False alarm. I heard that they caught the guy that did it near Second Miltia. This gate was just a decoy. I guess they didn't count on us sending two fleets to intercept them. Heh…"

"Yeah I guess you're right," the two men began walking, "C'mon, let's get some sleep. We've got fifteen hours before we reach H.Q.

"Yeah, I'm bushed…"

The two men entered an adjacent corridor on the way to their rooms. Behind them, something began to stir.

It was as if a shadow had risen from the floor. It took a physical shape. It seemed rodent-like, with a round head, glowing yellow eyes, and it was black all over. It stood about two feet tall.

The shadow thing moved its head around sporadically, as if searching for something. Its antennae suddenly pointed in the direction of the two men. The creature then moved towards them. It moved along the floor as if it were a shadow, itself. It moved speedily, towards its target.

"So, you got a girlfriend back at home, Jordan?"

"Well…I—gah!" the red haired soldier tried to scream out before the creature got him. His body disappeared as a glowing heart-shaped object flew into the air and disappeared as well.

"…J-Jordan? Jordan?"

The other soldier turned around to see the creature before him.

The man froze in place. He didn't know what the creature was, but he knew a word for such inexplicably bizarre creatures: "Gn-Gno-Gnosis!" The man called out the only name he knew for monsters.

The creature did not move for a second, it showed no emotion. Then, suddenly, it jumped up and smacked the soldier in the face with its claw. The cried out in pain, but only for a split second before his body vanished and a heart-shaped light floated away.

((ooOO00OOoo))

In CEO Wilhelm's office, there sat Wilhelm, as usual, staring at the Compass of Order, which was spinning at a rate faster than normal, with a smirk on his face.

"Master Wilhelm," addressed the man in the scarlet cloak.

"Yes?"

"What is the reason for the Compass spinning like that?"

"New phenomena are moving all over the universe. Even the Compass of Order cannot keep up."

"What are they?"

"They are creatures of the dark. They seek the very core of one's being. They take what they are after into themselves, and then create more of themselves. They are infinite, for they always come back when destroyed. They represent the inner darkness within everyone and feed upon it like worms to an apple, until all is left is the core. Then the core decomposes, and they consume that as well."

"'The core of one's being'?" asked the Scarlet Cloaked Man, "Their soul?"

"No…" said Wilhelm, "Their heart."

((ooOO00OOoo))

By this time, the entire ship had been alerted of the creature's presence. But now they had multiplied into the hundreds, and were consuming the hearts of everyone on all of the ships in the fleet. The soldiers had responded with guns, Weapons-Grade Realians, and A.G.W.S units. But it was to no avail.

An A.G.W.S. unit shot a group of the shadow creatures with its equipped rifle. The creatures were destroyed upon initial contact with the spray of bullets. But more soon took their place.

"Damn it!" cursed the pilot of the A.G.W.S., "The more we kill, the more take their place!"

Another soldier pointed something out after shooting a few shadow creatures.

"Hey, they don't seem to be attacking the realians at all!"

And he was right. The creatures all completely ignored the realians and kept on attacking humans on the ship. Is it because they are not real beings with hearts, but merely merchandise? Or…

"Tell the realians to form up into groups and attack theses bastards at close range!"

And so they did. The realians really did seem to be undetectable by the creatures. So the realians had an easy time picking them off. But as the creatures were being destroyed by the weapons of modern-day, they returned in droves twice the size of the group that had gone.

It wasn't long before every human on board the ships in the fleet had lost their hearts to darkness. After they were done picking off all the remaining humans, they left for wherever they dwell, leaving the realians alone on the ships.

((ooOO00OOoo))

Albedo, sensing something, looked up at the endless sea of stars above him.

"That energy…I sense…thousands have died, but not really…their…no…this isn't Gnosis…" scenes of the attack on the federation ships inundated Albedo's thought. He wasn't even trying to send his psychic thought out to find these images, they just came to him.

"So…he's responsible for the UMN hack. And he's nearby. I'll just have to do a little hacking of my own to go and meet with him," a name flashed in his mind as he set the course for the location of the Federation fleet in hyperspace, "Ansem…" Albedo laughed like the madman he is as E.S. Simeon passed through the hyperspace gate.

((ooOO00OOoo))

All was silent inside the ships of the Federation Fleet as the realians were left wondering what had happened. But they didn't even know how to express this, for they were more confused by the existence of their emotions then the phenomenon that had just taken place. It's not as if they could not cry or be afraid, or be angry or sad. But it was as if they were so confused by these feelings, but it was that they chose not to convey any emotion at all.

Suddenly, a dark portal opened up on the floor before the confused realians. Was it those creatures again? No. This thing had its own consciousness.

As it rose up from the darkness, green fire—the color of emeralds—blazed around it.

The dark figure took the shape of a woman. Then, when the darkness and the flames had faded, one could see the person clearly. It was the evil witch, Malefecent.

She threw out her arms as if greeting the realians, who didn't know what to think anymore than they knew what to feel.

"Poor lost children, I have come to liberate you from your captors," she said in a very dramatic voice, "They are now gone. Come my children, I, and only I can give you what you have been searching for."

"Who are you?" asked a brave realian.

"Why I am the Maleficent, the Queen of Darkness, and the granter of dreams. I know much and I know your plight. You wonder why the heartless did not attack you as they had the humans on this vessel, do you not?"

No realian moved.

"Well?"

"Yes. The creatures you speak of had killed everyone on this ship, but left us completely alone, even as we attacked them," the realian whom had spoken earlier explained.

"Silly fools! Your former human masters were not killed. They merely went back to the greater darkness. They have returned to where all creatures are born. That is, accept for your kind."

"Yes, we are manufactured by humans, and are but-"

"Silence! I already told you I know all about you 'realians.' Now the reason as to why the Heartless paid you no mind during the raid is simple: The Heartless feed upon the darkness in one's heart. You, on the other hand, are artificial creatures who lack hearts. But fear not, for I am all powerful and all knowing. And if you help me get what I am after, I will surely find a way to give you all hearts of your own."

"What do you want us to do?"

An evil smile spread across Malefecent's face. "Come with me, my lost children."

Malefecent raised her staff and a dark portal appeared under her and the realians.

"Do not be afraid, dears."

With that, Malefecent, the Mistress of All Evil, and her realian children, disappeared into the darkness.

Moments later, Ansem came through another dark portal into the very same room.

"So my presence in this world has attracted the Heartless," Ansem theorized, "as well as that witch. She was here not to long ago."

Suddenly, someone short-warped in, catching Ansem's attention…

"Who are you?"

"Me? Why I am the perfect consciousness," It was Albedo. He cackled as he made his introduction, "My name is irrelevant, but I know yours…Ansem."

"Huh? How did you-…never mind. I don't care how you know my name or even what you are after. If you stand in my way, I'll feed your heart to darkness."

"Yes…" said Albedo, "I see it…the darkness within your heart…I also can see your memories…all of them. Even the one's from your past life."

"What?"

"Tell me…what it takes to make a kind and noble ruler turn down the dark path."

Ansem thought for a second. Then he answered, "Knowledge corrupts just as power does. I saw all for what it was: a corrupted mess that was not meant to exist in the first place. So now I seek to end it."

"Oh, I think you're wrong, very wrong indeed," Albedo cackled.

"You dare to challenge my knowledge of the world? I, who journeyed to the heart of all worlds, Kingdom Hearts, and learned all there is to know? You fool!"

"You know nothing. Knowledge without the intelligence to understand is like a boat in a white water river without a paddle. Sooner or later you'll be swept up by the current of your own misguided ambitions."

"I haven't even known you for five minutes and yet I already despise you. I warn you, do not trifle with me, else you'll find out just how wrong you are," Ansem threatened.

"Oh, is that right?" mocked Albedo, "Trifle with you? I think it is you who are trifling with me. Your actions have caused me to have to delay my plans. My ascension as a higher being will allow me to bring all of humanity to a golden age! I will become the Overman, and rule over a utopia of perfect beings!" Albedo was becoming ecstatic by his own words, "But you are after the exact opposite. The extinction of all that exists…this is a very misguided whim. Now if you want to continue this argument, I suggest we cut this act of verbal volleyball and get right to finding out who will be killing who."

"Very well…I will show you…the real power of Darkness!"

Both of them rose off the ground as their auras spread out in all directions. Their auras clashed in front of them, causing vibrations that shook the very frame of the ship.

"Poor misguided fool…" Albedo said, "To be mistaken so much as to commit veritable suicide and take the rest of the world with him. And then only to be destroyed on another misguided whim…how tragic…" Albedo cackled again.

"I've had enough of you and you're annoying laugh. Now you shall witness real power!" Ansem's aura shrunk in size as a small orb of darkness appeared above Ansem.

Albedo looked up above him as the walls of the ship seemed to collapse into the orb. Indeed, from the outside if the ship it looked as if it was imploding. Ansem's orb of darkness was sucking everything into it! The orb began to grow as it absorbed the ship around them.

"Now do you see the futility of your actions?"

"Damn fool…"

"What?"

Albedo leapt out of the sanctity of his aura and charged Ansem, orb of his own mental energy in hand.

"Now die!" Albedo struck Ansem with the orb with a deafening screeching sound that chilled the bone.

"Gah-!" Ansem struggles to breathe after he was struck. Both his aura and his orb had disappeared. "Ack…uh…" he coughed as the point of impact on his chest glowed in white energy.

"What…how…I'm…dying…?" beams of light emanated from cracks that had appeared in Ansem's body; Ansem himself was in a lot of pain, "How…I have no mortal form that can…can die…"

"Yes, you are a being comprised only of your darkness and your consciousness," Aledo explained proudly, "So an energy comprised completely of mental waves is perfect for destroying you."

"Damn…no…I'm not done yeeeeeeeeeeet!" Ansem exploded in a brilliant white light.

"Poor deluded fool..," Albedo chuckled as he activated his short-warp technology.

Unable to keep stable with most of it now absorbed into darkness, the ship exploded in a brilliant fire show as Albedo warped out.

**End of Chapter**

Well, that's it. Malefecent is our first Disney cameo. Keep in mind that I already made it clear that alternate universes exist in this fic, meaning that in this particular universe of possibilities, Malefecent has not died yet. Please don't question anything that has been said or has happened in this chapter. All will be explained in good time. Please review. It keeps me motivated.


	5. Chapter 5

**Saga of Hearts**

**Author's Notes:**

**Wow. Didn't expect so much praise! I'm flattered, really. Thanks to all those who have reviewed and keep 'em comming, okay? **

Chapter 5: The Interrogation

"Lieutenant," Lapis' subordinate called, "We've apprehended the subjects in question," the subordinate informed her as he gave the salute, "they are waiting for you in the interrogation room." The man put his hand down from the saluting position.

"Good," said Lapis, "I'll be there shortly. You are relieved."

"Yes ma'am," the man saluted before he began walking away from Lapis.

She sighed. She considered calling up Helmer before she met with the occupants of the ship. But she decided against it. She should call him afterward, she thought, no need to give the higher-ups any reason to be suspicious of her calling on a private channel that they could not bug, but always new she used. Every ship had one, of course, and they are mainly for personal use; as in calling one's family, but overuse of the line could give rise to some suspicion—for the higher-ups of the Federation always checked the records of the voyage upon return. Lapis knew this, and instead, started for the interrogation room. She can call Helmer and tell him after the interrogation, thus saving her from using the line more than once this day and keeping suspicious action on the low.

But before she had even taken two-and-a-half steps, her subordinate called her back:

"Lieutenant Roman," called the man as her ran to her and saluted upon their reunion, "I…uh…should warn you…uh…they're not the most normal looking bunch…"

"What do you mean?"

((ooOO00OOoo))

"Holy-!" Lapis yelled, looking into one-sided window at their prisoners, "W-What are they…?"

It was clear Lapis was shocked out of her mind. Whatever those creatures were, they were nothing like she, or anyone on the ship had seen before. The guards inside the room with them were shaking in their boots. Lapis could not blame them, though. They were definitely out of the ordinary.

"A-are they some kind of robots?" she asked, gawking at Donald and Goofy through the window. The boy looked normal enough, though he was oddly dressed. The three of them looked depressed as they awaited their fate. From the look on their faces, Lapis was finally able to believe that maybe they didn't know what they had done.

"I don't think so, ma'am, they can't be robots, their far to-"

Lapis and her subordinate looked through the window as Goofy tried to pick up his coffee with his four fingered hand, only to drop it, spilling the hot contents down his front. He yelped in pain as Donald slapped his forehead in disgust.

"…intelligent," the man sighed.

"Well I…I'd better go in there and begin the…i-intero-…the questioning thingy," Lapis stumbled through her words as she turned the handle on the door of the interrogation room. She sighed, took a deep breath, and entered.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy looked up as Lapis entered. She lamented not having a perfectly planned out opening. Her eyes passed over each of the trio; she tried to asses for herself what kind of creatures Donald and Goofy were, but to no avail.

Having no well prepared speech, and being slightly fearful of her prisoners, she began the interrogation with:

"Which one of you is Captain Donald Duck?"

"I am!" Donald answered rudely.

_You have got to be kidding me,_ Lapis thought, _Well, he _does _look like a duck…I can't believe I just thought that._

"W-well…are you aware of why…we um…apprehended you?" Lapis asked nervously.

"Ahem-"Donald began, but Sora interrupted him.

"We told you before, no we don't," he said. Donald was behind him, giving him a sour look, "and whatever it was, we didn't mean to!"

"'Didn't mean to'…"

"Look kid!" the guard guarding the door had made his way over to the table where Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Lapis were sitting, and had grabbed Sora by the collar and was shaking him roughly, "I missed the birth of my son because of you! My wife had my firstborn alone while I'm stuck up here because of your little stunt! Do you know how serious an offense hacking the UMN is? Do you no how many people's daily lives have been interrupted and even endangered? 'Didn't mean to' my-"

"That's enough!" Ordered Lapis, "put him down."

And so he did. He gave Sora a nasty glare as he backed away to guard the door.

Sora looked stunned, Donald was angry, and Goofy had covered his ears so as not to hear what he expected the man to say before Lapis had told him off.

Lapis called their attention over to her with an _Ahem. _ They were now listening attentively.

"Well, Mark had made a good point," she said, glancing for a moment at the soldier who had made the outburst, "even if it _was _out of turn. _Are_ you aware of how much disruption you have caused?"

"I had no idea," said Sora, "We were just fighting Ansem, and then a huge hole opened up in front of the door, and we were sucked in. Then we wound up here!"

"'Ansem'?" asked Lapis in disbelief, "You mentioned that name before, over the transmission. You say you were _fighting _him?" Lapis had a hard time believing that this kid and those creatures are experienced fighters. "Why? How?"

"Ansem was once a king-"Sora began, but was interrupted by Lapis.

"'_King'_?" Lapis asked again in disbelief.

"Yeah," said Sora, "Ansem used to be the king of-"

"But there are no Kingdoms or planets ruled by a monarchy that we know of," Lapis informed, "Where do you come from?"

"I'm from Destiny Islands which was destroyed by Ansem's minions," Sora explained, "and these two…"

"We're from Disney Castle and we're lookin' for our King," said Goofy, putting a hand on Donald's shoulder.

"Wait a minute!" Lapis commanded, "_'Destiny Islands'_, _'Disney Castle'_, _'More **Kings?**'_" Lapis didn't believe any of this. She looked to her subordinate and Mark, the guard. Both of them shook their heads. "You expect us to believe _any_ of this? There are no kings or castles or kingdoms ANYWHERE that the Federation is aware of. And unless you hail from some far off, backwater place that's not on our charts, then I have no reason to believe what you are saying. You hacked a UMN gate and disrupted people's daily lives in the process. You've committed a serious crime, one punishable by LIFE-IN-PRISON, and you come here telling me some bullshit – (at this, Goofy winced)-story about Kings and Islands and fighting evil lords. I will NOT be made a fool of, DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?"

"Gee, you sure like to yell a lot, a-yuk."

That was the straw that broke the camel's back. _Are they **trying **to make a fool out of me?_

Lapis slammed her fist onto the table. The hot contents of the coffee mugs sloped over onto the table; neither Lapis nor anyone else paid this any mind.

"That's it! Looks like you need to learn a lesson about respecting those who have the power to ruin the rest of your life. Mark, Kharg, escort them to the holding area!" she commanded.

"But…he's just a kid," Kharg, Lapis' subordinate and second in command, protested.

"Did I ask your opinion, soldier?" Lapis asked in a rage, "I said take them to the holding area, NOW!"

Mark and Kharg walked over to Sora, Donald, and Goofy and pointed their rifles at them as they ordered the trio ahead of them. Sora and Donald capitulated without protest, but Goofy remained firmly planted in his seat, shaking in fear. Goofy wasn't comfortable around guns, and therefore froze whenever one was pointed at him.

"C'mon, get up! I-it's for your own good," advised Kharg,

But Goofy still would not budge.

"GET UP!" ordered Mark as he smacked Goofy upside the head with his rifle. Goofy let out a yelp as he hit the floor. Mark pointed his gun once more a Goofy. "You want some more, you freak? Then get up and get moving!"

"Don't…you…" Sora rushed Mark with his arm out and his hand positioned as if he were gripping something where there was nothing. He swung his hand a Mark as if he were wielding a sword instead of air and in a flash of light, a long, blunt object in the shape of a key—with a silver blade and gold, box-shaped end with a handle in the middle—appeared where there was formerly nothing in his hand. It struck Mark's rifle hard with a loud _CLANG_. And Mark, shocked stupid by the sudden appearance of Sora's weapon, was relieved of his rifle. Once the initial shock wore off, he found himself at Sora's mercy. Sora had his weapon pointed at him and he himself without his rifle.

It was only milliseconds before Sora's head met Kharg's boot, bringing him to his knees with a grunt of pain. The Keyblade magically disappeared from his hand in a flash of light as he went down to the ground.

Sora tried to get to his feet, only to be brought back down by Mark's foot.

"Using short-warping technology, eh?" Mark asked vehemently. "Stupid kid!" he kicked Sora once again in the gut.

"Uhhg"

"Stop it, Mark!" commanded Kharg, "He's just a kid!"

Kharg bent down to Sora's level in order to speak with him in a whisper:

"Just stop resisting, it'll be easier. I don't want to hurt you or your friends…"

Sora nodded and rose slowly to his feet. And he, Donald, and Goofy allowed themselves to be lead to the holding area by the soldiers.

Lapis sighed, "What a day..."

((ooOO00OOoo))

"Don't do anything just yet," said Helmer over the private channel after hearing a record of the interrogation proceedings as told to him by Lapis. "I've just talked to CEO Wilhelm of Vector Industries-"

"CEO Wilhelm?" asked Lapis in outraged curiosity, "But he's just a businessman, what kind of power does he think he has to influence government processions?"

"Companies and large businesses wield greater power over the government than you or even government officials realize. And that is how Wilhelm has been able to pull some strings and put the three of them under custody of the Kukai Foundation. You will personally bring them to the Second Miltian capital. Take them to the government offices and await mine and Gauinun Kukai's arrival. They are not to be harmed. That is all."

Lapis looked as though she was having trouble taking all this information in. She wanted ask him to clarify what he had said. She wanted basically to inquire about things that really weren't any of her business. She had decided this in seconds, and merely saluted and said, "Yes sir."

"And one other thing, it seems as though there has been an attack on the Federation Fleet intercepting the second hacked gate."

"-an attack?"

"Yes. Only the fleet's flagship, the Ixion, was damaged. The others had not a scratch on them, yet all the crew and aboard the each and every ship are gone."

"Gone?"

"Yes. There are no bodies to be found. The Federation is looking into how this might have happened."

"Could it be Gnosis?"

"Wilhelm doesn't think so, although the Federation has officially labeled it as such. He said that they have found no traces of salt, saltwater compounds, or crystallized salt—what humans become when they are touched by Gnosis—anywhere on any of the ships."

"Not Gnosis…then what are they?" asked Lapis in a vaguely horrified tone.

"We don't know. But Wilhelm has said that that is exactly why we need to bring the prisoners out of Federation custody. They are somehow connected to this strange turn of events, or so Wilhelm says."

Lapis didn't know how to react to all this. What kind of connection was there between her captives and the mysterious attack on the Federation Fleet? Lapis wanted to know, but again kept her mouth shut and nodded.

"Until we meet again," said Helmer, "—Oh, and Lt. Roman?"

"Yes?"

"When you get to 2nd Miltia you'll have some time off…would you like…"

"What?"

"…Never mind. Just bring the prisoners to me. Good bye."

The vid-screen went black. It was a good thing that Helmer had shut the connection off so quickly, Lapis thought, for perhaps he didn't notice the shad of red spreading across her cheek.

**End of Chapter. **Sorry it took so long. Just getting over the Holidays and all (as well as the start of the second semester at school). Chapter six will be up shortly now that I have more time on my hands. And if anyone has noticed, there is a HelmerXLapis thing going on.


	6. Chapter 6

**Kingdom Saga**

Chapter 6:

**The One Who Bears the Key**

"How long do you think they're going to keep us in here?" asked Sora, pacing the floor inside the small room that was to be their prison.

"How should I know?" Donald replied.

"They got guns. They don't play fair…" Goofy commented.

"Nothing we do will break down that door, either," lamented Donald, "Not like it matters. They'd be on us in an instant," Donald sighed.

They had been there for over four hours now. It was starting to drive Sora crazy. He was starting to get sick of the dirty looking cheep carpet, the plastic walls, and the overall alien feel of the place. No other world he'd ever been to felt so…different. There was true corruption here, beyond just Darkness; there was a true war here, beyond Darkness versus light. Somehow, Sora knew this. Was it the Keyblade that had sensed it? It wasn't darkness. No. It was true strife. But no evil could be found here; no darkness to fight. It might have been that, more than anything, which was driving the Key Bearer up the wall.

Finally, Sora spoke:

"I think…I think there's something I have to do here…"

"WAK?"

"Huh?"

Sora elaborated, "Think about it: Why were we taken here? I don't think that UMN Gate or whatever had opened up in front of Kingdom Hearts for no reason. Someone planned this and that person wants me to do something," Sora punched the floor, "Darn it!"

Goofy and Donald jumped.

"I have to get out of here!"

"Yeah…good luck with that," said Donald.

"I'm serious!" Sora yelled with contempt for Donald's sarcasm, "Goofy'll back me up. Aren't my premonitions usually right? Goofy? Goofy!"

Goofy stood transfixed on the corner of the room. There they all saw a shadow, much darker than it should be in the corner. It grew darker still, and more shadows, now great masses of darkness, had formed all over the floor. Five of those black creatures that had attacked the Ixion had appeared from those dark pools. They glanced about frantically for a second, their antennas twitching and moving in random directions. Then they turned to face the trio.

The three were shocked to see the black creatures they knew so well.

"Heartless!" exclaimed Sora.

"-here?" asked Goofy.

"Open up!" Donald slammed his fists on the door to the corridor.

"What's wrong?" asked a guard on the other side.

"It's…Gnosis…"said another guard, "We need backup, now!"

"I'm coming!"

With that, both guards left their post, not noticing Donald's plea.

"Hey? HEY!"

"Oh noooo!" cried Goofy, "They took our weapons…"

Aside from Donald…they had not moved the entire time, so the Shadow Type Heartless made no move to attack them. But this was a dilemma. Their captors had confiscated their weapons before throwing them in the holding area, and the guards were off dealing with Gnosis—_whatever that _is, Sora thought—so there was little hope of a rescue.

"Just…don't move…" sad Sora slowly.

But then a thought struck Sora. He remembered when Leon had taken his Keyblade from him, yet it was summoned back to his hands when he, Sora, had looked at it. Maybe the Keychain didn't need to be at his belt for him to summon the Keyblade…it was worth a shot.

He put one foot forward and held out his hand as if he were holding the Keyblade. Instantly, as if waiting for Sora's action as a cue, all five Heartless leapt forward. There was a flash of light and the Keyblade appeared in Sora's hands.

Donald and Goofy, caught off guard, gasped.

Sora swung the Keyblade to the left of the Heartless acting as point, and slashed it in half with a smacking sound in midair. It vanished instantly as a glowing, heart-shaped object flew from its fleeting form and also vanished.

Sora got into a battle stance as the other four Shadow Heartless landed in a loose circle around him—one at twelve o' clock, one at three, one at six, and another a nine.

The stayed where they were for a moment, their heads, limbs, and antenna moving and twitching randomly as if they can't control the involuntary twitching of their bodies; their glowing eyes were the most unnerving part of them. No, don't look at those yellow lights…too frightening…sends chills down one's spine.

They leapt at Sora without warning. Sora turned to three o' clock and skewered the Heartless he was now facing. He then swung his Keyblade past twelve, severing the Heartless there's head from its body—the first Heartless still impaled and struggling at the end of the Keyblade. Then he lifted the Keyblade above the Shadow at nine and stabbed downwards running through with the first heartless still impaled and struggling as it is pushed upwards towards the hilt. Both Heartless were shishkabobed on the Keyblade.

All three Heartless vanished with three heart-shaped lights floating away into nothingness, leaving only the one Heartless nearest to the door—which in the heat of Sora's badass moment he forgot.

He turned around too late to see the Heartless lunging at him, too close now to swing at it with the Keyblade. Sora flinched, expecting the pang of sharp, crooked claws only to hear a loud BANG and a gasp Donald and Goofy.

Sora looked up and saw another glowing heart-shaped light float up and away; as well as Lapis Roman standing in the doorway, a smoking pistol clasped in both hands.

"Miss Roman!" Sora exclaimed with a hint of relief.

"There's no time," she said, "I've got to get you out of here!"

She reached for Sora's unarmed hand. Sora backed away slightly.

"Why?"

"You're too important to be allowed to be killed by the Gnosis," she explained lowering her handgun, "Now come on!"

Sora wanted to ask more questions but Sora decided it was best to get to safety as soon as possible.

He nodded and followed her out of the room at a running pace. Donald and Goofy came running after.

"Excuse me, but what are 'Gnosis', anyway?" Sora asked following Lapis through the corridor.

"Those black things you were fighting," she explained, "We don't know much about them except that they have an ever-present hostility towards humans."

"Gee, those are called Gnosis?" asked Goofy stupidly, "I always thought they were called Heartless."

"They are Heartless, Goofy," said Sora, "these people just call them something different, I guess."

"Wait, so they're not Gnosis?" asked Lapis hurriedly and confounded.

"Excuse me," came Donald's voice from below, "down here!"

"What?" Lapis asked impatiently. By now they had passed through three corridors and no sign of any Heartless which was a good thing. But Sora had been hearing distinct sounds of thumping and metal clanking on metal; as well as screaming and gunshots.

_That can't be good_, Sora thought. He turned his attention then to what Donald had to say.

"Where are our weapons?" he asked rudely.

"'Weapons'?" she repeated.

"…My staff?"

"—and my shield?"

"What? _Those…_" Lapis asked now recalling the confiscation of those items, "Those are your _weapons?_"

"Uh-Huh," Donald and Goofy said in unison.

"I thought they were just some sort of trinkets. You actually _fight _with those things?"

"Gee, you sure do like ta infantize your words a lot! A-yuk" Goofy commented.

"_Emphasize_!" Donald corrected.

"Yeah, emphasize."

Lapis mouthed something that looked to Sora like "'In-fan-tize…'?" but when they had turned into a fifth corridor, she said:

"Your stuff is in here," she pointed to a door.

Sora nodded and went to the door. It opened automatically.

Under peaceful circumstances, Sora would have been amazed by this feat of otherworldly technology. But the situation was too dire to warrant a state of amazement. All that mattered was getting out of here.

The four of them peered through the doorway into the room expecting to find a room, empty except for a few boxes, and a safe in the back which held their possessions, but instead they found this room ransacked; boxes knocked over, and twenty or so Heartless moving around frantically as if searching for something.

The four of them ducked back into the corridor.

"Wha-What are they looking for?" asked Lapis. They heard more gunshots and the clank of heavy metal upon metal.

"Hearts," said Sora.

"'Hearts'"

"The Heartless are beings without hearts. Their only purpose is to take other people's hearts," Sora explained, "It's the darkness in people's hearts that attracts them."

"We've been fightn' 'em fer a long time, a-yuk," Goofy added.

"This is too much…" said Lapis with a sigh and a rubbing of her fingers on her forehead.

"But why did they ransack the room?" Sora asked, "Wait a minute!"

"What is it, Sora?" asked Goofy.

"They're following the traces of the Keyblade," Sora hypothesized.

"Huh?" Lapis, Donald and Goofy asked in unison.

"Remember what Leon said? 'They'll keep coming after you as long as you continue to wield the Keyblade'. My Keyblade was there before I summoned it to my hands in that room. That's what they're after: Me and my key."

"Well in that case…" said Lapis edging towards the doorway, "As soon as we get close enough for them to sense us—"

"Or they sense hostility or fear," Sora added.

"—they'll attack you—"

"—or anyone I'm with."

"Well, we can't stand here forever," Lapis said as she had just reached the edge of the door," I say it's time to bust some heads."

Sora nodded and they both jumped through the doorway; pistol raised and Keyblade drawn. (Donald and Goofy stayed behind for lack of weapons and nerve to fight without weapons.)

The instant they set foot in the room, the Heartless attacked. Sora killed the first one to get within his attack range. It went down with a single swipe. They were all quite weak.

Lapis shot down three in a row with her expert gunmanship, sending three heart-lights into the air.

Sora moved into a different stance with his feet spread apart and his Keyblade arm over his left shoulder, "Strike-Raid!" at those words the Keyblade glowed blue and he snapped his arm forward and released the Keyblade, sending it flying like a boomerang in front of him. It cut through at least two or three Heartless before coming back to his hand. The dark blue aura around Sora increased size as he threw it three more times in different directions. He had killed seven more Heartless in this way.

By now Lapis had stopped shooting and was looking straight at Sora's glowing blue form in amazement, for his aura had grown larger still as he prepared for another strike, aiming at five Heartless huddled together.

"Judgment!" he yelled as he shot the Keyblade forward at a diagonal angle. The azure aura around the blade had become a wide, razor sharp disk of energy as it passed through the room at a speed the defied perception. It cut a groove into the floor as it passed as well, ten feet long until it hit its mark with deafening rushing sound. Five heart-shaped lights floated away.

The spinning blade had also hit the safe in the back, splitting the door diagonally before returning to Sora's hand.

Lapis shot down the last heartless before looking at Sora's panting form and commenting:

"Amazing…"

The room smoked with the obvious signs of gunfire and spiritual energy exchange. Wires protruded from the groove cut in the floor by Sora's Judgment attack, sparking.

"That can't be good."

"This place is done for anyway," said Lapis, "The pilot and most of the crew is dead. There's been some damage to the ship from the fighting, too. Just get your stuff let's get out of her. Escape is our only option."

Sora nodded as he, Donald, and Goofy went to retrieve their stuff.

Donald and Goofy grabbed their weapons and Sora, who had not once before thought about the fact that they had confiscated his chains and necklace, put them on hastily.

Without a word they all raced out of the room. There was nothing else to do but make a break for it.

A few Heartless jumped in front of them, but Donald smited them with a Thunder spell.

The were one corridor away from the escape pod hanger when at least thirty or so Heartless appeared in front of them. The four turned around to the way they came to see thirty or so more blocking them on that side, too.

"Damn it!" exclaimed Lapis.

"Oh no!" Goofy cowered.

Sora thought all was lost then when he heard those same metal on metal clanking sounds getting louder and louder until he could see what was making them: Large robotic machines big enough for a person to fit in it, but small enough to be able to walk through the corridors of the ship.

"Long time-no-see, kid," came a voice from the mech.

"Mark?" exclaimed Sora, remembering his last encounter with him.

"Yeah, sorry about how I acted before. I know I overreacted and made a total ass out of myself," he said, apologetically and sincerely," Here, let me make it up for you."

The mech he was piloting lifted an arm with a wrist mounted laser beam attached. A crimson beam shot from it and hit a large metal beam hanging from the ceiling. It fell with a loud CLANK and blocked the Heartless on the other side of Lapis and the others from advancing.

Mark's mech on the other side then shot a continuous beam of energy at the wall to the left, a large chunk of the wall fell to the floor leaving an opening big enough for a person to pass through.

"That way will lead straight to the escape pods," Mark said, "Go now."

"What about you?" Sora asked.

"I'll hold em off," he said bravely and a little hesitantly at the same time, "As soon as you make a move they will attack, that's when I'll blow 'em all to Hell."

Sora didn't want to leave Mark to certain death, he moved to protest, but Lapis interrupted:

"C'mon!"

"Bur what about-"

"I said, C'mon!"

She grabbed Sora by the wrist and pulled him to the opening. She was stronger than she looked.

Donald and Goofy followed, both looking at the form of Mark's mech preparing for an attack.

All the Heartless moved for the four, that's when Mark started shooting at them.

"You'll have to get through me first, you bastards!"

The corridor was filled with the sounds of automatic gunfire.

He launched a missile from the shoulder mounted launcher on his mech. Sora heard the explosion even as he and the others made their way to the escape pods.

Sora stopped.

"Darn it, I'm going back."

"Oh no you're not," Lapis said as she grabbed Sora's wrist again.

"But he'll die!"

"And that's his job! To protect those he cares about from those who might destroy them," Lapis said. She would never admit it, and though she tried to hide it, there were tears welling up in her eyes. "And right now, that may very well mean keeping you alive."

"But he has a family! He said he had a newborn back where he lived…he'll never get to…"

"Better never to see them again then to have them die because you didn't do everything in your power to protect them, understand?"

"But—"

SLAP!

Sora's hand went to his reddening cheek.

"Listen up," Lapis ordered; she began to sound more like a lieutenant, "Until we reach Second Miltia you are in MY charge. And I'll be treating you like any of my soldiers. The only difference is that you don't get to have the right to die! Not until you've made up for all the trouble you've caused with the UMN!"

Sora looked down. Tears began to fall from his azure eyes.

"So straighten up, soldier, you're in the army now!"

Sora did nothing, said nothing.

"C'mon! Or you'll get a taste of martial law!" Lapis threatened.

There was another explosion.

"Do you want his death to be for nothing?"

That did it. Sora looked up, right into Lapis' brown eyes.

"No."

"Then come on. The escape pods are through here."

Sora nodded and followed Lapis through the doorway to the hangar. Donald and Goofy looked at each other for a moment, then followed suite.

Inside the hangar there were people everywhere getting into escape pods. Many of the soldiers were ushering them in. Sora recognized Kharg.

"Lt. Roman!" he called running over to them, "You're in luck. There's on pod left. You four, get in quickly. They're going to take off any minute now."

"What about you?" Sora asked.

"The realians and I are going to hold them off as best we can."

"But—"

"Don't you even dare contest his decision," Lapis whispered to Sora irritably. "Remember what I told you?"

Sora sighed in defeat and nodded solemnly.

Kharg led a troop of thirty realians out of the hangar. Sora glanced at the realian troops with a look of wonder at their identical faces and black expressions. The last realian in line stopped and looked at Sora.

"You may not take any solace in what I have to say," said the realian, "but although Kharg and the other soldiers are not manufactured for the specific purpose of war like we realians, we all share the need and the pride in protecting others. It is what we do. Please let us do what we love without any regret. You must live on so that our deaths are not in vain."

Sora was about to protest once again, but said nothing and merely nodded.

The realian nodded back and made a quick salute. Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Lapis did the same.

The realian went to join the others as the four of them boarded the escape pod. Sora glanced around as he heard an automated announcement over the intercom.

"Attention all evacuees, please board the escape pods hastily. We will be launching shortly. I repeat…"

"C'mon, its time to leave," Lapis said, motioning for Sora to sit down inside the pod.

He did so, but not without regret as the top of the pod moved down to shut them in.

He felt the pod lurch forward with the sound of roaring engines. Vid screens activated, showing them the view of space around them—this sea of stars: serene, beautiful, and a bit sad. Sad that these stars, shining beautifully in all their glory, could do so as if they were unconcerned with what was happening. This made Sora feel all the more solemn as the fled the the area into a UMN gate. Sora was happy to see the stars replaced by the fiery column walls. He didn't want to think about their beauty and the sorrow they were bringing him.

"Good," said Lapis finally, "This is one of those pods that can be piloted like a small ship. We can go on to Second Miltia without having to wait for a rescue ship. Getting through the atmosphere of Second Miltia should be no problem, too."

Sora said nothing.

"Oh, c'mon!" Lapis said irritated.

"Cheer up, Sora," said Goofy, "Remember what Leon said? I'm sure that when we beat Ansem and seal that there big Door to the Darkness that everyone who'd been taken by the Heartless will come back, a-yuk."

"Yeah…you're right…" said Sora, cheering up just a bit. "Listen up," he said. Donald and Lapis looked up at Sora in surprised glee, "I'm going to help you guys with whatever I can and by the looks of it if I keep helping you guys Ansem will show up at some point since it seems like he's got something to do with this."

"That's the spirit!" Goofy laughed his stupid laugh.

"And one more thing…" he said turning to Lapis, "I've been thinking that for whatever reason we were brought here, that we were meant to do something here. There's no doubt in my mind that it has everything to do with whatever your people are up against, Miss Roman."

Lapis perked up at hearing this, "Call me Lapis."

"Sure thing, Lapis," Sora replied.

Sure, Kharg and many others had died today. But Sora was able to take solace in the fact that there was a chance that they could be restored. This, he knew, was his new reasoning in helping out with this new world's struggle. He knew it was going to be a long, hard battle. But with Donald and Goofy by his side, he was ready for anything.

((ooOO00OOoo))

Meanwhile at the spaceport on Second Miltia:

"…They're late," said Director Gainun Kukai checking his watch, "I hope nothing happened to delay them."

He turned to Representative Helmer.

"I can't say I'm completely ensured that they will be safe either," said Helmer, "These are troubled times, made even more troubled by these recent events."

"You mean the mysterious attack on that Federation fleet?" asked Gainun, "Wilhelm says it wasn't the work of the Gnosis."

"No, I don't think it was either," Helmer replied, "Even the Gnosis couldn't take out an entire fleet that fast. And besides…there was hardly a mark on the ships of the fleet."

"This is very troubling…" added Gainun.

"Indeed," Helmer closed his eyes, "I've got a bad feeling about this…"

**END OF CHAPTER: **I would like to thank all those that have reviewed. Keep them coming. And don't forget to take a look at the forum I've posted. You can suggest and Disney and Final Fantasy cameos there and I will see if I can work them into the story. I'll try to get chapter 7 in ASAP, but I don't know when I'll find time so…don't forget, Read and Review.


	7. Chapter 7

Saga of Hearts

Chapter 7:

**Muddling**

**Disclaimer: **Yeah, I realize I didn't write a disclaimer last time, sue me!

Namco Lawyer: What a coincidence, that's what we're here for!

Me: Yikes!

Namco Lawyer: I'll teach you not to write a disclaimer!

Me: Isn't there a way to negotiate?

Namco Lawyer: No. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

Me: Light bulb If you try to sue me I'll tell Square-Enix about all the Xenogears property that's in this game.

Namco Lawyer: What? Oh please don't! We're lucky they haven't caught on yet…

Square Lawyer: Or have we?

DUN-DUN-DUN!

Tune in next chapter for the next part of the exciting "Disclaimer SaGa!" but first:

_**My Lawyer: Daemen Reisho does not own Kingdom Hearts or Xenosaga or any Final Fantasy characters that may appear.**_

Square Lawyer: Hey! That SaGa belongs to us, too!

Me: What's the problem? The SaGa series sucks, anyway.

Square Lawyer: …True…

((ooOO00OOoo)

The red haired boy turned to the hovering form of MOMO. She seemed as though she was asleep, still breathing, and once in a while she had moved a bit. But her personality layer was damaged in the hacking attempt, and she was no more than a shell of herself floating there. Jr. wondered if she was dreaming in that state.

"Damn it," Jr. cursed, "Have they opened the UMN channels back up again, Allen?"

"Hold on, let me check," Allen punched a few buttons on the computer terminal, "Nope, still down."

Jr sighed in half anger, half woeful tones as he looked again at the pink-haired girl floating unconsciously. Albedo had said she was nothing more than a puppet…at least that's what Ziggy had told him. _Damn that bastard, _Jr. thought, _Next time I see him, I'll kill him!_

Shion turned to Jr.'s sulking form.

"C'mon Jr.," She said sympathetically, "Stop blaming yourself. It wasn't your fault."

"But…I wasn't there…," he said pitifully, "I left because I was a coward…I couldn't stand to see MOMO like that…and now…maybe if I had been there-"

"You would have been able to change nothing," Ziggy said harshly. He walked nearer to Shion and Jr., his large metal feet clanking on the floor. His hulking, mostly mechanical form towered over them both (especially Jr., he's like four feet tall). "Let's get real. I know you, and let's face it: If anything, the most you would have done would have been loosing your cool and getting in the way of the people who were trying their best to save MOMO. That's something you haven't learned. You let your emotions control you. I've told you what you have to do to control it before, yet I've witnessed you loose your cool again and again. You're still just like a child. Maybe you should try to act more like the people working on MOMO; like—"

"—Juli Mizrahi?" Jr. said vehemently, "The only reason she was able to keep her cool is that she can't stand MOMO. She told me that herself," Jr. paused and sighed, then looked up at Ziggy and said, "You know, you two are perfect for each other…You're both pretending that being cold and emotionless will solve your problems, when it's only going to hurt you both in the end."

For a split second, Ziggy's emotionless face contorted as though he had been struck with a swift blow. He grunted, in monotone as per usual, and took a few steps before Shion called:

"Ziggy—"

"I don't want to hear it," Ziggy walked to the other side of the room, his metal feet clanking on the metal floor.

Jr. leaned hard against the wall, "MOMO…"

((ooOO00OOoo))

"Where are we?" asked a bewildered Goofy, oblivious to all the people in the Second Miltian Capital Spaceport, who were now staring at he, Donald, and Lapis with their mouths hanging down.

"Everyone's staring at us…" Sora observed.

"It is to be expected," said a cool, male voice from behind Sora.

Sora quickly turned around to meet the emerald gaze of Guinun Kukai.

"Greetings, I'm sure you've had a long and tiring trip," Guinun said, extending his hand.

Sora reached for it and reluctantly shook it. Guinun turned to the man beside him and said, "Helmer, are you going to introduce yourself or am I going to have to do it?"

"That won't necessary," his voice was warm and friendly. Sora looked at the man of African descent with instant liking, "I'm Representative Helmer of the Second Miltian Parliament and I am glad to meet all of you." Helmer extended his hand to not just Sora, but to Donald and Goofy as well. Neither Helmer nor Guinun seemed to be disturbed by Donald and Goofy's otherworldly appearance unlike the rest of the people around them gawking with mouths agape. Sora felt their eyes on his back like the burning heat of a hot sun when you stand back to it.

Guinun, as if sensing his discomfort, said, "I would guess that you would want to talk in private, no?" he suggested.

Sora nodded.

"That's good. We can take my car," offered Helmer. He turned to Lapis, "Agent Roman?"

"Yes?"

"I will need a full report of the events of the past two days on my desk by Monday. You are free until then."

"Sir…the—"Lapis began to tell Helmer about the Heartless attack and the voyage to the spaceport, but Helmer stopped her.

"Agent Roman, I thought I said I didn't need the report until Monday. You need say nothing else to me until then except 'goodbye'."

"Understood, Sir," Lapis saluted, "…g-goodbye…"

With that, she left, looking back only once.

((ooOO00OOoo))

"Chief!" Allen called from the operation area, "A message from KOS-MOS."

"From KOS-MOS…?" Shion asked, "How?"

"I had her data sent over here before the UMN was shut down," said Allen, "She's inside the hard-drive of the Administration Office."

Shion smiled at the thought of having KOS-MOS as backup, so she commended her Assistant Chief with, "That's good thinking, Allen."

A broad smile spread across Allen's face. _The Chief…she complimented me…_, he thought with glee.

Allen then quickly regained his composure. "She…uh, says it's important."

"Then let the girl speak!" Shion commanded abrasively. Allen liked it better when she complimented him.

Allen punched a few buttons on his Connection Gear, which had been jacked into the console, and KOS-MOS monotone voice came over the loud speaker:

"Shion," she said. No hint of emotion in her voice was to be found, "I have received orders from Wilhelm, CEO of Vector industries. I am to sift through various UMN files and open up the necessary partitions to allow to group initiate an Encephalon dive into the subconscious domain of the subject, MOMO Mizrahi."

"Wait," Shion ordered, "You say you're going to _hack_ the UMN?"

"Affirmative," KOS-MOS answered, "This process will take approximately two and a half hours to complete. Further, in the unlikely event that I should fail, you will simply have to wait for the UMN functions to be restored, which could be in a matter of days. But do not take chance on it, as I have calculated my odds of success at 96.778 percent. There is no need to worry."

"Wait KOS-MOS…!"

"I've nothing else to discuss with you. –Signing off."

"Wait KOS-MOS, how did you get in contact with the CEO? KOS-MOS?"

"Gee, what's with her?" asked Jr.

"What can I say…she's a delinquent" Shion sighed. It's going to be one hell of a day.

((ooOO00OOoo))

Sora had explained what had happened on the Federation ship to Guinun and Helmer on the way to the UMN Administration Office, finishing his tale just as the car came to a stop in front of a gigantic tower. Having been raised on an island village, Sora had never seen a building so large, save for Hollow Bastion.

"Wow." Sora gawked as he got out of the car.

"I suppose you don't see to many skyscrapers where you come from?" Guinun asked.

"No."

"I'm worried about the recent turn of events," Helmer said as they entered the Administration Office, "If the Heartless really are as hostile as the Gnosis, we'll have two wars on our hands."

"And both against enemies we know very little about," Guinun added.

"Yes. But young Sora and his companions—"(Speaking of which, Donald and Goofy were attracting as many stares from the various secretaries and UMN operators as they had at the spaceport) "—have provided us with a lot of useful information concerning them. We aren't as much in the dark as we could be right now. I would like to personally thank you for your help."

"Your welcome," Sora answered, "But I think that…we might be the reason they're here."

Guinun's usual composure faltered for a moment, but Helmer answered:

"Well that may be," he said calmly, "But it is still due to circumstances beyond yours or our control, and therefore you cannot be blamed."

"Yeah…but about helping you out…" Sora began to say.

"Yes?" Guinun urged.

"Well…the rules say…"

"We can't help ya…" said Goofy, "We ain't allowed ta muddle in the affaires of other worlds."

"Meddle!" Donald corrected.

"Right…meddle, A-Yuk!"

Guinun stared at Donald and Goofy with an arched eyebrow.

"Well regardless," said Helmer, "your appearance alone has caused a disturbance in our…world's affairs. Now you have no choice but to see this through, if I am interpreting the laws of your worlds correctly."

"Yeah…I guess we'll have to help you," Sora conceded.

"That's good. This way, please." Helmer directed them into a room on the right side of the hallway.

((ooOO00OOoo))

"Is she done with the hacking yet?" Jr. asked, becoming impatient.

Shion shook her head, "It's been almost three hours," she sighed, "I can't believe we have to hack the UMN to get this done. Even though we're IN the UMN Administration Office and this operation is SANCTIONED by the Federation, the Feds won't allow any activity until they find whatever their trying to find. Don't they think the Y Data is more important?"

"The Feds'll do whatever they want. I hate having anything to do with them," said Jr.

"The Federation and anyone involved with them are nothing but jerks!" Shion exclaimed.

"Come now," said a voice at the door, "I used to be with the Federation Military, you know."

"Speak of the Devil…" she said under her breath, "Jin!"

"I heard that. Why are you so intent on insulting me, little sister?" asked the raven haired man. He wore a black Kimono and sandals. He seemed oddly out of place.

"What are you doing here?" Shion asked her brother.

"I've just quit my job and joined the Second Miltian Special Forces as per Representative Helmer's request. At first I was only supposed to help out with one operation, but I thought that—"

"I knew it!" Shion vehemently exclaimed, "I _knew _you wouldn't be able to keep that bookstore idea going for more than six months!"

"You know that isn't the point, Shion," Jin said, crossing his arms. "We are in a crisis and my cooperation may very well become mandatory."

"Who in their right mind would run to you?"

"Ouch," Jin conceded, "Why so hurtful, little sister? That time of the month."

Jr. could not help but burst out laughing. Shion turned to Jr., shocked, and then turned her gaze back on Jin, blushing with an angry look on her face. "JIN!"

Jin chuckled and patted his left shoulder with his right arm.

Jr.'s hysteria was silenced by a mental message from Guinun:

"_Jr., I'm coming in and I've got Helmer and two guests with me. They've got a lot of important things to discuss with us," _said Guinun.

"_Sure, but can it wait until after we've fixed MOMO's subconscious? We're about ready to go."_

"_That's good, I'll bring them in and we'll wait for you to finish." _

"_Okay," _

"_And Jr.," _Guinun added.

"_Yeah…?"_

"_Don't overreact when you see them…"_

"_What do you—"_

Suddenly the doors opened behind Jin. Everyone looked as Guinun, Helmer, and three strangers walked into the room.

"Hey Gui-," Jr. was about to speak when he caught a sight of Donald and Goofy. And apparently so did everyone else, for there was an awkward silence.

**END OF CHAPTER: **Well that's it. In the next chapter, the group will finally dive into MOMO's subconscious domain to retrieve her consciousness as well as the Y data, with Sora, Donald and Goofy along for the ride. Tune in next time for Chapter 8: Cherry Blossoms and Peaches Part 1; Encephalon. Please read and review. Thanks.


	8. Chapter 8

**Saga of Hearts**

Chapter 8:

Dive to the Heart

**Author's notes:**

Hello and welcome all to chapter eight of my story. I give my heartfelt apologies for not having updated in like months. There have been a lot of problems going on with my family (though I do not wish to disclose the details) and I hope that all of you will continue reading and that none of you have forgotten about my little story. But rest assured that I have been steadily improving my writing style over these many moons and hope to offer you a better reading experience. So without further ado, let's get straight to chapter Eight—

Square Lawyer: HOLD IT! Hold everything! Have you forgotten about our COPTWRIGHT?

Me: Uh…no…well…um…LOOK! An ambulance! Go chase it!

Square Lawyer: What, where?

Me: See ya! runs

My Lawyer: Daemen Reisho does not own anything in this story.

(Please note that all chapters will henceforth be from Sora's POV with the exception of a few chapters and parts of chapters where he is not present.)

((ooOO00OOoo))

A dead silence hung in the air for many minutes. Hours it seemed had gone by. Sora could feel the eyes of the group across the room from him burning in to them. All of them had a look of shock and wonder about their faces, save for one: A silver haired boy whose dark skin and translucent-green eyes contrasted beautifully together. His silver hair reminded Sora of Riku.

Sora's eyes never left the silver-haired boy as he unexpectedly began to cross the distance between them. The boy, about fifteen or so by Sora's reckoning, kept eye contact with him as he climbed the steps into the glassed-in room where Sora, Donald, Goofy and their escorts, Helmer and Guinun.

"Hello, I am chaos," the boy said, his tones were smooth and calm. He sounded as though he was much older than he was.

"S-Sora," replied a flustered Sora.

"Donald Duck!" said Donald.

"Name's Goofy!" said Goofy.

"I am happy to meet you all," said chaos, shaking hands with each of them and resting his gaze momentarily on Sora and then on Guinun, "I apologize, but I don't think that either I nor me nor my companions are in any position to give you a proper greeting just yet."

"Yes," said Guinun, "It is of utmost importance that this operation proceeds as soon as possible."

"That's okay," said Sora, "what kind of operation are you guys doing?"

"A very important one," answered Guinun, "One that could decide the fate of both the world…and that little girl over there," he gestured over to the room below, which held within it a single figure of a small girl floating in midair. With everything that had just happened, Sora had not noticed her before. Her features were perfect; there was no sign of any blemish or mole or freckle on her skin. Locks of vivid pink hair trailed down to shoulder length from under a small hat perched upon her angel's head. Sora thought that she could not possibly be human.

"Gawrsh is she sleepin'?" asked Goofy. Sora thought that he had taken the words right out of his mouth.

Guinun stared at Goofy for a moment with his piercing emerald eyes as if he were reading his mind. Goofy seemed to recoil from the sight of his eyes. Finally, he said, "Yes. But if we succeed today, she will wake up."

Another wave of silence washed over the room as Sora contemplated this. No sound was uttered except for that of the many computers in the room as Sora recalled when Kairi had lost her heart. She had been in a similar state.

"Has she…lost her heart?" the words escaped Sora's lips before he could stop himself.

Guinun stared at Sora as if trying to contemplate the meaning of Sora's question. He opened his mouth to say something, but before he could utter so much as a syllable, a red-haired boy, twelve or so, called out from halfway up the steps, "You could say that. Her consciousness, the very element that makes her human, has been shattered." The boy spoke as if he were older than twelve, though not in the same sense as chaos had sounded. No, chaos sounded as though he were ancient, whereas this boy sounded as though he had merely stopped growing since childhood and—though he still looked like a child—he was actually an adult.

Sora was taken aback by the boy's unexpected choice of words.

"Shattered?" asked Donald.

"Yes," said Guinun, "a man named Albedo did it. He's a cruel and twisted man."

"But don't you worry," said the red-haired boy, "We'll get that bastard!"

Goofy covered his mouth in shock. Guinun turned to his younger brother and calmly reprimanded him:

"Jr., have you no manners?"

"Uh…sorry…" said Jr. reluctantly, scratching his head.

A quiet laugh turned everyone's attention towards Helmer. He spoke:

"Well now. Pardon me," he said, "I hope that I'm not interrupting anything, but…it would be to everyone's benefit if this operation commences as soon as possible," he moved towards a computer terminal and sat himself beside a red-haired man, "Allen, how are things with KOS-MOS? Is she finished with her task yet?" Is she finished with her task yet?"

Allen looked nervous as he answered, simultaneously punching keys at his terminal, "No, not yet. It's been almost two hours since she last contacted us though. If she doesn't contact us again soon though…"

"She will!" came a loud, commanding female voice from below. It came from a small framed young woman in a black jacket with brown hair and blue eyes. She was standing in front of the pink-haired girl. A rather tall, blonde man was standing beside her. He said nothing, but his appearance was shocking enough without him having to speak, for you see his right arm and everything from his torso down seemed to be made of metal! Sora, Donald, and Goofy glanced from the woman over to the man. His cold eyes returned their gaze. The three of them jumped back.

"You're right Shion," said Allen, "I'm sure she'll contact us with the good news soo-" Allen stopped speaking and gawked at him computer screen, "Actually, I think that's her now." Allen punched a few keys and the voice of a woman echoed throughout the room:

"Shion, I have successfully breeched the protection around the UMN. You may commence the UMN dive at any time. Over and out."

"Good," said Helmer, "Allen, Shion, everyone, what do you say we get started?'

"Yeah," said Jr., "Everyone, take your places!"

As Jr., Shion, chaos, and the "metal-man" took their places around the pink-haired girl below, Helmer, and Guinun both sat on either side of Allen.

"S'cuse me sir," said Sora to Helmer, "but what are we supposed to do?"

"Just sit and watch for now. Your involvement comes later," said Helmer, "Right now I see no need in involving you just yet."

"I see," said Sora, disappointed that he could not do anything to help. Suddenly, Allen's voice sounding from the intercom broke Sora's train of thought.

"The subjects for this dive will be Jr., Ziggy, the Chief, and chaos. The operators for this dive will be myself, Allen Ridgely; Representative Helmer; and Guinun Kukai. Like the dive within KOS-MOS subconscious, there is a chance for latent memory playback with those who have closely shared time and space with the target. Going on what information gathered from Dr. Juli Mizrahi, it is prudent to assume that because MOMO's subconscious is patterned after the late Sakura Mizrahi's subconscious, the possibility exists for latent memory playback with those that had closely shared time and space with Sakura."

Sora didn't understand a word of it. But he had heard Jr. saying below, "This time, that'd be me." That made Sora even more confused.

"Activating dive program," said Allen.

Sora watched as each of the people below began to close their eyes and fall into a trance below. Just then, Sora heard a stifled yawn from Goofy. He looked behind just in time to see his companion fall to the floor with his eyes closed.

"Goofy!" called out an alarmed Sora.

Helmer, Allen, and Guinun had also heard Sora's cries and had turned their attention to the trio. Seconds later, Donald also hit the floor unconscious.

"Donald!"

A wave of drowsiness enveloped Sora's mind. It felt as though a hook had caught Sora's consciousness, dragging it; sending it hurdling towards the unknown.

**End of Chapter.** I promise that chapter nine will come soon. Till then, please read and review.


	9. Chapter 9

**Saga of Hearts**

**Chapter 9**

**Cherry Blossoms and Peaches**

**Authors Notes: **What? You loved this story enough to read this far? You actually clicked on the chapter nine tab? You like me you really like me! Ahem…but seriously folks, thank you for reading chapters 1-8 (and if you haven't read chapters one through eight and have just clicked on the chapter nine tab then SCREW YOU, you'll be seriously confused later on.) I would like to thank all of those who have reviewed so far and to those eight or nine of you who have deemed this story worthy of your favorites list. Thank you all! I would also like to thank DXP for putting this fic in his/her C2 archive, Vector Communications, I'm so honored that you have been enjoying this fic. So without further ado, I would like to-

Square Lawyer: I still don't see any ambulances.

Disney Lawyer: You tricked us!

Me: Can't we reach an agreement?

Disney and Square Lawyers: Well…

**NOTICE: **From henceforth, all chapters will be preceded by an advertisement for a new Square game or Disney movie in accordance with the agreement set forth and agreed upon by Sqaure, Disney, and Daemen Reisho in order to keep them from suing his ass off.

**Disclaimer: **Daemen Reisho does not own anything in this fic.

_A new game from Buena Vista Games:_

_Kingdom Karts: Because We Own the Rights to This Shit!_

_Join Sora, Donald, and Goofy in an epic and extremely POINTLESS quest to save the worlds from destruction by beating everyone in a race to the finish line! Why? Because we can! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHHAA!_

_Coming Soon…_

Ahem…uhh…And now your feature presentation….

((ooOO00OOoo))

Sora awoke lying on his back in what appeared to be the front lawn of a house, having no idea how he had just gotten there. Was this real, he thought. Well, the sun on his face sure felt real, the sweet smell and soft prickly feel of the damp grass felt real, and the weight of the super powerful arms of some superhuman woman with blue hair pinning him down sure felt real, too.

"Unidentified person," she said in a very businesslike tone, "identify yourself or face destruction. You have ten seconds to comply. Ten…nine…eight…"

"Say what!" Sora exclaimed beginning to feel the pinch of having an entire battle android put their weight on top of him, "Hey-hey! Getteroffome! Getteroffome!"

"KOS-MOS!" said the voice of Shion, "Its alright, he's a friend!"

The blue haired android stared blankly at Shion for several seconds with emotionless red eyes, all the while still keeping Sora pinned down on his back. Then, without so much as a word, she released her hold upon the key bearer. Sora could have sworn he heard what sounded like gears turning as she moved. Giving out an exasperated sigh, Sora lifted himself upwards on one knee. Looking around, he noted the sky above him was twilight, and before him stood a two-story house with a porch and swing. He felt the summer breeze flowing through his spiky hair. He also noted that everyone from that room he and been in before he blacked out—with the exception of Helmer, Guinun, and Allen--were also present; as well as a man Sora had not noticed before: A tall man with dark black hair and green eyes. Oddly enough he wore some kind of dress-thing and carried a long sword. Sora was used to oddities like this by now, having traveled to so many different worlds along the way, but this man seemed to contrast with those around him, as if he came from another time altogether. The man turned to Sora with a somewhat disturbing grin.

Just then, Shion suddenly burst out with a cry of, "JIN? What the hell are doing here?" Everyone else—including Sora, Donald, and Goofy—recoiled from the shock of it.

"Now, now, Shion," he said calmly, the strangely unsettling grin never leaving his pale face, "That's exactly what I want to know."

"You mean…" Donald began, "You got here by accident, too?"

"Why…yes," Jin answered, momentarily startled by Donald and Goofy's strange appearances. Jin's eyes widened momentarily. Then, finally composing himself, he spoke, "Oh, please forgive my rudeness, my name is Jin Uzuki; and you are?"

"I'm Sora."

"Name's Goofy!"

"Ahem, my name is-"

"Wait a minute," said Sora, discounting Donald's screams of rage behind him, "Did you get here by accident, too?"

"That appears to be the case," said Jin. His smile had yet to fade. Was it permanently stuck to his face, or something? "I was in another room, watching for possible interference from the U-TIC Organization, when I felt a sudden and overwhelming sense of drowsiness. I blacked out after that. And now I'm here."

"That's what happened to us!" exclaimed Donald.

"Uhhh," Goofy asked, "What's a…U-TIC?"

"I'm afraid that explanation will have to wait for another time," answered Jin, "just be certain that if you are truly our allies, then they are your enemies."

Sora merely nodded in complete understanding at this.

"This is so weird," Jr. commented, "We specified the targets for the dive, we made sure the output from the non-contact dive units was low. This shouldn't have happened."

"Mistakes can still happen Jr.," chaos said calmly, "nothing nor no one is ever perfect."

"Well yeah, I guess…" was Jr.'s only reply as he scratched his head in quiet frustration.

Without warning, the entire group began talking all at once to each other. No one could get a single coherent word in amongst the din. The only one's who had kept quite through this were chaos, Ziggy, and KOS-MOS (obviously because they don't say much anyhow) Sora, Donald, and Goofy (who were too confused to have anything much to say and were perfectly content watching the others argue it out.) Finally, Shion screamed "QUIET!" and all was silent.

"We'll never get anywhere like this!" she exclaimed.

"This is no time to be arguing anyhow," Ziggy added, "We have to save MOMO."

"Yes," Jin agreed, "and for whatever reason we can't explain, Sora, Donald, Goofy, and I were unwillingly included in the dive. And maybe…" all eyes were on Jin intently as he made his speech. Sora in particular was curious as to what he had to say, "…it was fate. Perhaps we are meant to be here. Perhaps there are greater powers here at work."

"Do you think that that same power is what brought us to this world in the first place?" Sora asked.

"Possibly…But I think that the only way for us to find out is to keep going; to allow these events that have been set in motion to unfold; and meet whatever lies at the road's end."

The entire group was silent; no sound could be heard save for the chirping of the many birds—many of whom were extinct species—desperately searching for a mate, chirping loudly as if to say "look at me"; the buzzing of the bumble bee, hovering over a small blue flower laden with pollen; and the gentle sound of the summer wind moving the branches of the trees. Jin's words didn't make sense to Sora. Since Sora first received the Keyblade, he had done nothing but oppose the forces that move events forward in the dark. Sora knew only how to go against the grain. How, exactly, does one ride the current, he wondered. He knew as well, that his friend Riku would also disagree with the samurai's words. Riku had always questioned the natural order of things; he never went along with other people's designs. But…then again, look what happened to him.

Sora moved to protest Jin's proposal of 'riding the current' but before he could utter a single syllable, Goofy spoke:

"Uh, why are ya wearin' a dress, Jin?" the dog-knight asked quite out of the blue.

Jin's face contorted. "It's a ROBE!" he yelled, startling everyone.

"Gosh Jin, no need to get defensive," Jin's younger sister teased, winking one eye.

Jin's look of anger and annoyance melted instantly to that of pure cynicism. "Why don't you keep out of this, Shion?"

"Oooh, did I hit a nerve?"

"You would like to think that," Jin retorted.

Donald, Goofy, and Sora exchanged glances. Sora noticed that the others in Shion's party had done the same. The entire group glanced back and forth from Shion to her elder brother as their game of verbal volleyball lasted for several minutes.

"You should pay me more respect, little sister," Jin had begun to say, "Why I practically raised you after our parents-"

"-which was your fault!" Shion argued with an extreme bitterness not present in her voice before. The swordsman clenched his fists-knuckles turning stark white (almost as white as his face) obviously taken aback by his sister's words. His face contorted, not in to a look of rage or annoyance, but one of utter pain and lamentation. At first he looked as though he had just been hit with a sharp blow to the gut, but an instant later, he looked truly anguished. His gaze dropped to the damp grass below, his eyes closed slowly.

"I-I'm sorry," said Shion, taken as much aback by her own words as her brother was, "I didn't mean to-"

"It's alright…" Jin conceded, "Perhaps I…deserve it."

"No, Jin. It's not like that! I-"

"Enough," Jin interrupted, "That's enough, Shion. We're here to do a job. And whatever personal issues we may have must wait. It is best we hurry and find a way to restore MOMO's subconscious."

Shion said nothing. She merely stared at her elder brother blankly for several seconds. Sora could not help but notice the way the sunlight reflected off of her watery eyes. Then, finally—and without another word to Jin—she turned to the blue haired woman beside her and asked, "KOS-MOS, do you know where we are?"

Sora, too, had turned his attention towards the blue haired woman. She, like the pink haired girl—whom Sora had gathered was the MOMO that the others were speaking of—seemed not quite human. Her skin was too perfect; her posture was unnaturally straight, and her eyes! Those ruby-red eyes that seemed to glow of their own light; and lest we forget to mention the mechanical noises she made whenever she moved. No. Whatever she was it wasn't natural. She, and MOMO for that matter, must have been man-made.

Her monotone—which Sora had recognized from the voice on the intercom—deep and businesslike, seemed to enforce Sora's suspicions that KOS-MOS was no living being.

"Sensors indicate that the suburban image before us is nothing more than a suggestive image," said KOS-MOS, never moving or gesturing like a human would; not even blinking, "Someone in this group it seems must have been with the one known as Sakura Mizrahi at this particular time and space. That is, if Assistant Chief Allen Ridgely's hypothesis is to be believed to be true."

"Jr.?" Ziggy asked, "Does this have anything to do with you?" This was the "metal man" Sora had seen at the UMN Admin. Office. He was tall with hard features—his face I mean. Well, his metal parts were hard too, of course, but that goes without saying. He had very intense blue eyes. He also spoke with a monotone, but unlike KOS-MOS, he still seemed—more or less—human in his gestures and mannerisms.

"….Yeah, I think I remember this," said Jr., "—Wait! I do remember this. This is where we-…" everyone stared at Jr., silently pressing him to go on, "Well…I know something important happened in that house. I think we should go in."

Agreeing to this, everyone moved in a group towards the house—everyone, that is, except Shion and Jin.

"Jin?"

"Don't worry about it," Jin said as he moved to join the group. Shion sighed as she followed.

"What's wrong with them…?" Sora asked chaos in reference to Shion and Jin's obvious discomfort.

"Those two…they have some family trouble," chaos answered.

"Gawrsh," Goofy said, forcing himself into the conversation, "Brothers and Sisters shouldn't fight like that."

Suddenly, Jr. stepped right in front of Sora, Donald, and Goofy, who had been following the others as if they were already members of the group, at the front of the house. He said, "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hit the brakes! Who invited you guys." His tone wasn't condescending, just a bit arrogant. His tone suddenly softened as he spoke again, "Look, maybe you guys should just dive out. This doesn't really concern you."

"Uhhh," is the only reply Jr. received from Goofy.

"'Dive out'?" asked Sora.

"These three weren't wearing dive gear," chaos informed, "they can't dive out unless we all do."

"Gosh, I forgot," said Jr., scratching his head.

"And besides…," Sora interjected. The brown haired boy held out his right hand and with a flash of light, the Keyblade appeared.

"Whoa!" Jr. exclaimed.

Everyone's attention, including Jr.'s, was now fixated solely on the Key Barer. Shion and Jr. were wide eyed with wonder; chaos gazed with a look of contentment; Jin had—along with his permanent grin—an expression that said "I-thought-as-much". KOS-MOS and Ziggy, however, conveyed no emotion at all.

"Ever since the beginning of my journey," Sora explained, "the Keyblade has been drawing me towards people who need my help, even though all I want is to find my friends and go home. And the thing is, so far, by compelling me to help others; the Keyblade has been helping me reach my goals. I think…that this is just another one of those things; another leg of my journey down the road—one I hope…no…one I _know _will lead me back to my friends. So you see, I have to go with you. And anyway," Sora took a glance at Donald and Goofy, "I think I speak for me and my friends when I say that we would help you even if it _wouldn't _help us. Right guys?"

"That's right," said Goofy, "when people's roads cross, their hearts get connected. Then, they can either help each other and be friends, or fight each other and be enemies. I want us ta be friends, so we're goanna start by helping you guys save MOMO, cause that's what friends are for, a-yuk."

"Speak for yourself!" said Donald, crossing his arms.

"Ahh c'mon, Donald!" Sora pleaded. Goofy laughed, chaos and Jr. laughed too.

"Friends, huh," Jr. said with a hint of joy, "…thanks, guys." Jr. held out his hand: a sign of friendship.

Sora gladly shook it, and a new bond was forged.

((ooOO00OOoo))

**Somewhere within the dark regions of MOMO's subconscious domain…**

"Ahh Ma Belle Peche…" cooed Albedo, caressing the cheek of a seemingly unconscious little girl: It was MOMO. Albedo held her in his arms. A twisted expression of pleasure spread across his face. "It won't be long now. Soon, you'll awaken, and I will finally be able to realize my destiny. Right now, your entire being is fragmented. But I know your heart…let's see how much anguish Rubedo will have to go through before you—pardon the expression—'pull yourself together'!" Albedo broke into a fit of violent laughter.

_Stop laughing, you fool!_

Climbing to his feet and setting MOMO down, Albedo called out, "Who is there? Who dares to insult me?"

_I do…_

A column of emerald-green flame shot up from the surrounding abyss, and from it, rose the dark witch Maleficent.

"Who are you? How did you get here?" Albedo demanded.

Maleficent smirked. In her usual 'totally evil' tone of voice, "Ah, to know so much, yet so little…," she taunted, "I am a witch; I am not from this world. Its laws, I do not capitulate with. I can go wherever I wish."

"Okay then," said Albedo, beginning to be irritated, "you've answered one question. Now, who are you and WHY are you here? Answer quickly, for you have broken my moment of euphoria and are beginning to try on my nerves. And I assure you, I don't take either very lightly." Despite his anger, Albedo smiled maniacally.

"Very well," said Maleficent, "I am Maleficent, supreme mistress of evil." (At this, Albedo raised an eyebrow.) "And I have come to you with a proposition."

"Oh, and what is that?"

"I'll help you obtain the data you seek…"

"And in return…?" Albedo asked.

"I have studied much of this world since my arrival. And I have come across something that has caught my eye," explained Maleficent.

"And what, pray tell, might that be?" Albedo said impatiently.

"Old Miltia," Maleficent answered, "A once great land such as that deserves to be MY kingdom!" (More eyebrow raising from Albedo)

"Riiight…" he said.

"Do you have something to say?" Maleficent demanded, "Go on, out with it!"

Albedo stood uncharacteristically still. Suddenly, he burst into peals of laughter. "What? Why are you laughing? Don't trifle with me!"

"You're a riot! Your Kingdom! That's hilarious!" Albedo straightened up. "Look, I appreciate the offer but I don't need any help. Everything is progressing exactly as I've planned. Now be gone, before I destroy you."

"Wait! I think you should look again." Maleficent raised her staff, and up shot another column of emerald flame. Albedo gazed at it unflinchingly as it showed on its surface a vision of Rubedo and all of his companions, along with three others who Albedo did not recognize.

"That wretched boy in red," Maleficent explained, "along with his two lackeys, have caused me much grief due to that mysterious key the boy wields. Surely, he will pose as much a threat to you as well. But fear not, for I believe we can use him to out advantage."

"And how so?"

"The Keyblade can unlock any barrier. I believe that, even if the girl can recover her fragmented heart, that the Y Data will still be sealed by powerful protection.

"And this 'Keyblade' can unlock it?"

"Exactly. I will help you use his power and his foolishly noble disposition to your advantage. All I want in return is the Kingdom of Miltia as my domain once the road is open. Sound fair?"

"I have to admit…" said Albedo, "That is one hell of a story!" he cackled. "But I am dubious as to the validity of your claims. But after seeing what sort of amazing things exist out there—such as what happened to me when I was in contact with U-DO—I can almost believe you."

"Do we have a deal?" Maleficent asked.

"All right, very well, have it your way I suppose."

"That is good to hear," Maleficent stepped into her fire-column, "I will return to you when the time is ripe. Until then, continue as you were."

"Wait!" Albedo commanded, "How do you know so much about the Y-Data?" But Maleficent had already disappeared.

_I told you, I have studied much. _The sounds of maniacal laughter that could rival Albedo's echoed through the abyss.

((ooOO00OOoo))

The house was quite a beautiful sight on the inside. Sora was awestruck by the wonderful plainness that surrounded him. Indeed, its plainness was part of its allure. The floors were hardwood, as was the ceiling. The house itself was framed by white stucco walls and sky-blue draperies covered the large windows. Goofy called everyone over to the corner of the living room, where he had found, in a small dresser, a music box decorated with assorted shells. A cute little thing, the kind one would give to a little girl. Goofy opened the box; it played a beautiful, yet, somewhat melancholy melody.

'That's her music box," Jr, whispered.

"Jr.?" asked Ziggy.

"I-I-It's nothing," Jr. answered, "We should get moving."

The crossed the living room into the kitchen. Again, the floors and ceiling were all hardwood. The sink, stove, and refrigerator were all white. The house indeed did resemble a dollhouse rather than a real one. On the moved, up the stairs and down the hall to a small room, scattered with toys; there, in a bed, lay a small girl.

"MOMO?" exclaimed Shion in surprise.

"No…" Ziggy said.

"That's Sakura," said Jr.

Indeed, the girl did look like MOMO, except that her hair was brown. She laid there as if she were asleep.

A voice caught Sora's attention. "Ouch! Get off my foot!" It said. He was wondering to himself who this Sakura might be, but his attention was now focused solely on the source of the voice: The closet to the left of the bed.

"It's not me," said another voice.

"Will you two be quiet? I'm trying to check the coordinates!" said a third voice.

"It's dark."

"I said get off my foot!"

"Hey, stop moving around so much! You're gonna—WHOAH!"

There was an audible CRASH as the closet door swung open and thee boys—about thirteen or so by Sora's reckoning—tumbled out of it. An assorted mix "ouch!" and "Oomph" followed.

"Where are we?" asked one of the boys. His hair was white snow and his eyes were a strange violet color. He seemed to be worrisome and he had yet to actually pick himself up off the floor," Musta got the coordinates wrong."

"Albedo, you stepped on my foot in there!" accused the red-haired boy to the white haired one. Sora stared in wide eyed shock: It was Jr.!

"Did not, Rubedo," Albedo protested, "I must've been Nigredo."

"Nuh-ah, that was _your_ foot!"

The two boys began to argue. The other boy, however, remained calm and stood up straight. Sora could not believe his eyes: Third boy had jet-black hair and cool, green eyes just like Guinun's! Sora knew this was no mere coincidence. And what about the white haired boy? His name, Albedo, Sora had heard his name not to long ago. Then, it hit him: Albedo was the one responsible for what happened to MOMO!

"Jr., is that…?" Shion began to ask.

"Yeah," said Jr., "That's us, fourteen years ago."

"WAK?"

"Fourteen years?" Goofy exclaimed, "And you haven't aged in that long?"

"Nope," was Jr.'s only reply.

"But wait," said Sora, "wasn't Albedo—"

"Yeah," Jr. answered, "but he wasn't always like that. See?"

"I told you it wasn't my foot!" Albedo yelled.

"Hm?" said a soft voice. The three boys turned their attention to Sakura, who had just risen from her slumber, dressed in a white child's nightgown.

"The coordinates were correct," said Nigredo, "this girl is our contact target."

Rubedo, quickly realizing the improperness of the situation, dutifully began pushing his brothers back into the closet. "S-Sorry," he said, a bit flustered by the awkward situation, "Next time, we'll come in through the front door." "Get in there, you guys!" he said under his breath.

"Uh, you guys," said Sakura. She had a very soft and very sweet sounding voice. The three brothers stopped and pivoted around to face her.

"You can…hear me?" she asked, sounding very hopeful, though why Sora didn't know.

The three boys nodded.

"I'm…so glad…" she choked. A tear rolled down her cheek. "I'm so glad you came…"

Sora looked over at Jr. His face was stark white, as were his clenched knuckles. Something about this scene had struck something in him. But Sora did not have time to brood over this, for he began to feel that familiar sense of drowsiness. And then, he whited out…

**End of chapter: **Sorry it took so long. My cousin who lives with my family, Fatty McFatass, likes to spend hours on the computer. Thanks to all of those who have read so far and please read and review.


	10. Chapter 10

**Saga of Hearts**

Chapter 10:

**Sweet Song**

The change in atmosphere was felt almost immediately as the group was somehow spirited away to some kind of facility. The floors were cold, hard metal, and the room was quite chilly. All around Sora, people sat at computer terminals doing various observation work of some sort. A single, large glass window overlooked a much larger room below that was filled with various kinds of equipment. Sora saw what he thought were some kind of child-sized pods.

Below, in the pod-room, two people had just entered. The first one was a man, middle aged and with fading blonde hair. He wore a lab coat and glasses, and his look was punctuated by his receding hairline. Still though, the shape of his eyes and the way his hair just sort of stayed slightly messy seemed familiar for some reason…

The woman that accompanied him was much younger, probably in her mid-twenties. She was of moderate height with chin-length brown hair and green eyes. She had a pretty face and wide hips that were hugged tightly by her blue dress suit. She looked a little more than worried.

"Dr. Yuriev, Are you sure this procedure will be able to help Sakura?" Sora had heard the woman ask.

"If our hypothesis proves correct, then yes, Dr. Mizrahi," the middle-aged man answered, "We believe that your daughter suffers from no mere mental or physiological illness. Our research has proven the existence of malignant waves similar to that of the UMN. We believe that the U.R.T.V.s' anti-U-DO-Retrovirus can work a similar effect upon the waves affecting your daughter's neural passageways. But all of this is mere theory, I will give no guarantee that this will work."

Dr. Mizrahi looked solemnly at the pods, as if all hope somehow counted on them. "Mental illness caused by hyper-sensitivity to the UMN…we didn't have diseases like this when the Universe was still small…"

Dr. Yuriev gave only a solemn nod.

"What is this place?" Sora asked.

"This is the place where we-"

Jr. was cut off by the sound of a cool, female voice over the loudspeaker:

_Now deactivating dive pods. All conditions are normal. Now deactivating dive pods starting from number six-six-zero._

Sora watched as the dive pods began to move upright from their horizontal position on the floor. It was then Sora was taken aback—as well as a little repulsed—to find that each one held within it a young boy. All of them seemed as old as Jr.; in fact, occupying one of the pods _was _Jr.; the one from fourteen years ago. The pods on either side of him held the unconscious bodies of Albedo and the young Guinun. It took Sora several minutes to realize that every other boy looked exactly the same! Nothing, not one detail was different as far as Sora could tell. All of them had the same blonde, messy hair. All of them had the same pale skin. All of them, in fact, looked like younger versions of Dr. Yuriev! And coincidentally, Jr., Albedo, and Guinun, also resembled this man. The only differences were the colors of their eyes and hair.

Before Sora could really register any of this information, the mechanical sound of one of the pods opening before him caught his attention. The past Jr.—Rubedo—leaped out from the pod.

"…well…how'd it go?" Dr. Yuriev asked.

"I talked to her! It worked, it really worked!" said Rubedo. excitedly. Dr. Mizrahi was now eyeing the redhead hopefully. "She said to me, 'tell my mom that I love her'." Dr. Mizrahi was almost in tears, "…what else? Oh! She said she got a shell covered music box for her birthday last week. She said 'tell my mother and she'll understand'."

Now Dr. Mizrahi really _was _in tears. She said to Rubedo, "What's your name?"

"Rubedo," he said. Then, straitening up as if he had somehow made a mistake, he said, "I mean—U.R.T.V. number Six-Six-Six!"

"So…the waves matched up," said Dr. Yuriev as he noticed the other two variants rising from their pods.

Then, abandoning her composure all together, she knelt down and embraced him, smiling and crying at the same time; soaking his shoulder with tears. "Please keep telling me the things she says…Rubedo."

Then there was a bright flash…and they were gone.

"What was…that about?" asked Sora.

"Ghosts of my past," said a solemn Jr.

"It seems we all have our little demons…" Jin added. Jr. raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

Just suddenly, Sora noticed Goofy walking over to one of the people at one of the terminals. "Hiya, my name Goof-" but before he could finish is introduction, the person got up, as if he didn't even hear or see him, and walked right through the dog-night to another terminal. Goofy recoiled. "Whoa!"

"Goofy!" called a frightened Sora.

"It's like I just said," Jr. explained suddenly, "they're the ghosts of my past. They can't see or hear us at all."

"But how are we supposed to find MOMO?" Shion asked in a panicky voice.

"This is mine and Sakura's memories," said Jr., "I don't think that we can go anywhere where one of us is not or never was at the time. That me from fourteen years ago went outside, let's follow him."

Everyone agreed. Sora and the others pursued the ghosts of Jr.'s past outside to the garden area, obviously it was a recreational center for the U.R.T.V.s. Sora caught only a fleeting glimpse of the three phantoms, Rubedo, Nigredo, and Albedo, before they had turned the corner and had descended down a walkway into what looked like a residential area. Jr. had obviously seen them too, for they had had called out from way ahead of the group near the walkway entrance, "C'mon! They went this way!"

Sora and the others raced along the sidewalk to the descending walkway. Along the way, Sora spotted a number of the blonde-headed U.R.T.V.'s, all looking exactly the same as each other, and all with the exact same blank expression on their faces. It was starting to creep him out.

Sora had lost sight of the phantoms before entering the residential area. He was puzzled to hear what sounded like a piano playing a very somber tune. There were no houses in this area so much as there seemed to be a long stretch of building with many windows and doors; one window and one door per every apartment room. And standing in front of one of these many windows, which was open, was the Jr. from fourteen years past.

From this open window was where the somber, yet somehow sweet music had been coming from a finely tuned piano. Sora and the others moved closer, Jr. stood directly to the right the ghost of his past.

There, slowly and softly banging on the ivory keys was Sakura Mizrahi, and beside her, Juli Mizrahi, her mother. Sakura's movements were sluggish: she didn't even seem to notice that anyone was there.

Neither Dr. Mizrahi nor Rubedo spoke. Both of them seemed as somber as the music being played—sluggishly, as if being played by a primitive robot, yet sweetly and beautifully at the same time; though there was no trace of any real emotional human touch to it—really did fit the overall mood quite nicely.

Suddenly, Jr. spoke.

"She really can't talk in this world…" he observed in a tone that seemed both casual, yet emotionally distraught at the same time.

"That's right," said Dr. Mizrahi, "The neural pathways that allow her to express herself and recognize the outside world have been completely severed. The doctors had said that it was caused by a deficiency in her electrical brain potential, but neither glucose nor any nano-based glillial supplements had any effect."

"It's strange," said Rubedo, "that restoring her Electrical Brain Potential didn't do anything."

Dr. Mizrahi gave a sad little nod, only slight and subtle it was.

"But now," she said, "your waveform—the particular wavelength you possess—is making up for her deficiency."

There was another bright flash of light. A feeling of weightlessness washed over Sora. When he had regained a sense of gravity, Sora realized he was no longer at the institute. They were all back at the two-story doll-house that was Sakura's retreat inside her own mind. It was twilight, the same as it was when the party had been there last. Only now it was Sora and the others that had appeared spectral, and on the porch swing sat the two very solid figures of Rubedo and Sakura.

"…I guess it's just…I don't want to make my mom sad anymore," came the sweet voice of Sakura now within her own subconscious she can talk freely, "You don't know what it's like being trapped inside your own mind like that. I see my mom talking to me, I feel her warmth and the softness of her kisses, and I can smell her perfume. But I can't say anything; I can't react. And then she cries. She's gotten good at hiding it, but she always cries and I can tell.

"You are the only one I can talk to," she said.

"She…uh…your mom, that is…she seemed really happy that you liked the music box she gave you. She was practically in tears," said Rubedo.

Sakura gave a heavy sigh. She stared down at the floorboards.

"See…it's like I said. All I can do is make her cry."

"No, no! It's not like that," he said, "Not at all! She was happy!"

Sakura gave a sweet, faint smile. In fact, everything about her seemed sweet, as if she were not capable of vehemence in any form at all.

"My dad's trying really hard to give me a way to communicate in the real world," she said finally. "He says he's going to make a realian and that he's going to make it so that my senses are always linked up to it. Then, I won't have to make my mom sad anymore."

"Sakura…you sure have nice parents." Rubedo observed.

"Well, what about your parents?" asked Sakura inquisitively, "Your dad is Dr. Yuriev-"

"-Yeah, if you want to call it that," Rubedo said vehemently. He turned with an angry gesture out towards the pink and orange sky and the sun that was always setting, but never sets, just over the wheat fields.

"But he seems really nice," Sakura fired back in a way that seemed not at all angry; again, it seemed as though she wasn't capable of such sentiments. "He _is_ trying to help me, you know."

"He's just using you for combat practice!" Rubedo retorted, still staring out irritably at the twilit horizon, "To him, your nothing more than a human obstacle course for the U.R.T.V.s!"

For some reason, Sakura seemed to be hurt by this. She said nothing, and took to staring at the floorboards once again. The red-headed ghost of Jr.'s past turned to face her again, realizing the error in his choice of words.

"I-I didn't mean…" he tried to say.

"It's okay," she said finally, looking up at him, "Don't worry about it." She gave a quick and sweet smile. Rubedo returned the gesture through imitation.

Silence. Nobody spoke. The pair just stared straight into each other's eyes.

"So…what about your mom?" she asked finally.

"I never really met her…" said Rubedo, looking once again out at the horizon, though solemnly now as opposed to angrily, "I don't think I know anything about her."

"Why aren't you trying to find her?"

"Why?" asked Rubedo, "So I can run up to her and say 'Hi, you're the mother of a bunch of genetically engineered bio-weapons?'".

"Why do you always say things like that?" Sakura asked.

"Because that's exactly what I am, Sakura—I'm a weapon; a tool for war. Don't let my guise as a child or my personality fool you, because they don't matter; not my soul nor my heart—they're insignificant! They don't matter as long as I fulfill whatever mission it is that the Military Brass doesn't want to risk _real _human life for!

"And on top of that, being bred for war means we're constantly thirsting for battle. I'm just a tool, Sakura; my heart is just a plaything created by God, and because I don't believe in any God, that God is whoever has jurisdiction over the actions of the U.R.T.V.s. That's the real truth. There is no god, not for me."

Sakura seemed shocked by Rubedo's ranting. Her eyes widened, and then turned sad and sympathetic as she laid a hand on Rubedo's leg.

"I don't believe it!" she said, in a forceful, but again, never angry way, "You're not a weapon. You're no tool. You can be in charge of your own destiny and nobody, be they a God or a Military officer, can tell you that you're not a person!"

"Sakura I…"

"—No! Tell me, if you don't have a heart then how can I be in love with it!"

Now it was Rubedo's turn to be shocked. Sakura herself looked a bit flustered by her accidental confession. Both were blushing profusely. Finally, Sakura said, rather chokingly, "And it's because of that, that I would trust no one else with the well being of my mother and sister."

"What?"

"My sister's going to be born soon. My mother won't be giving birth to her, but I want her to be treated just like she was my little sister," her heart went to her chest. "I can fell it, Rubedo, I won't last much longer. I know this disease will take me soon. I want you to treat her like a real girl," tears were now filling her amber eyes, "I want you to make sure my little sister and my mother will live happily, even without me…." She sighed a heavy sigh, and then added, "And I want you to start treating yourself as a real person, too."

"S-Sakura…"

A quick kiss on the cheek caused Rubedo to go rigid. By the time he had looked back on her, she was already at the door of her "Dream House".

"Good-by, Rubedo," she said cheerily, as if their moment had never taken place, "I-I'll see you tomorrow."

And she went inside, leaving the ghost of Jr.'s past alone, with one hand on his cheek.

Another bright flash and Sora found himself standing on a sidewalk once again. It was desolate, except for the rest of the group, that is.

"Gawrsh," said Goofy, "That sure was sweet, a-yuk! Whatever happened to that nice young girl? She seemed to really be in love with ya. Sounds like somebody else I know!"

Sora blushed, hoping nobody had noticed.

"Yeah, but…she didn't live too long after that," Jr. said, "It's obvious we never could get rid of the disease."

Donald and Goofy clasped their hands to their mouths. The two of them had never known such tragedy. Sora, Shion, and Jin took on an expression of sympathy; chaos seemed passive. KOS-MOS and Ziggy seemed to convey no emotion at all.

"I…I think that those phantoms went back to the lab," said Jr., "c'mon. I think there are a couple more things we need to see."

And with that, they followed the ghosts of Jr.'s past back to the park area, the sun on their backs, bringing back memories of the days of summer.

_Those days are gone and so far away,_

_I'm still singing your sweet song alone._

**End of Chapter. **Sorry again for the delay. But hey, now that school's out, I'll have the time to write chapters by the butt loads! Expect to see more frequent chapters in the coming weeks. Maybe even two or three a week! I still have a job and a life, you know, but I can still find time to write more now that school is out. Thank you for your support for both this story and for your sympathy for my family problems earlier (we're still picking up the pieces, but its getting better all the time). Thank you, and please read and review.

P.S.,

And I apologize if this just seems like a retelling of Xenosaga Episode II. The story will take a different turn soon enough.


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